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Mention of an unexpected encounter at a service station might sound mundane, yet for BBC Radio 2’s Vernon, it turned into a stroke of luck. While grappling with the complexities of charging his electric vehicle, Vernon met a helpful stranger who turned out to be exactly the specialist he needed.
Vernon’s struggle stems from a condition known as Morton’s neuroma, a painful thickening of tissue around a nerve in the foot. This condition is notorious for causing shooting, stabbing, or burning pain, and sometimes it feels like stepping on a pebble. Although rest and over-the-counter pain relief like ibuprofen can help, the severity often necessitates a visit to a general practitioner or foot specialist.
While recounting his experience on air, Vernon shared how he was caught in a bind at a service station. Describing the scene, he said, “I was faffing around with the electric car charger, utterly confused by the lack of instructions.” Just as the situation seemed to be improving, a passerby offered assistance.
That passerby was none other than a foot specialist. “A gentleman parked next to me rolled down his window and greeted me,” Vernon recalled. They exchanged pleasantries before the stranger noticed Vernon’s struggle. “Are you struggling there?” he asked, to which Vernon replied, “A little bit, but I think it’s working now.” At that moment, the charger buzzed to life.
As they chatted, Vernon learned about the man’s profession. “What do you do for a living?” Vernon inquired, and the man responded with, “I’m a foot specialist.” This chance meeting not only resolved his immediate charging woes but also offered a potential solution to his ongoing foot troubles.
Vernon went on to say the gentleman then introduced himself as Nick. He continued: “I said, ‘Nick, open your passenger door please’. He said, ‘What?’ I said, ‘I’ve got a serious foot issue, you need to look at it, it’s killing me’. He went, ‘Are you serious?’ I went, ‘Yeah’.
“So he opened his passenger, I sat in the passenger seat, I took my sock and my shoe off and I got a free foot examination by Nick in the car park of the services. If there were cameras there it would have looked well dodgy.”
Vernon says Nick “squeezed his foot” and instantly knew what the problem was. It prompted him to book another consultation with the doctor and get steroids for his foot.
He added: “I thought why not, he’s very expensive is Nick, he’s a private foot doctor, does all the Premier League players, so I’m like, ‘scooch over’. It was a bit weird.”