I travel often to the UK with my mother who has MS. A couple of years ago in all the confusion of leaving, she left her crutches (with arm braces) at my sisters house. She thought she would be ok, but after the first day she was too wobbly to walk without them. We tried to buy them at boots (thought it might be like walgreens here), then we went to asda (you know wal-mart has everything), but still nothing. the customer service person at the asda directed us to the local hospital for rental. after stopping at several dept in the hospital, we were finally told, that the NHS covers travelers, and off we were sent with new crutches. they said to keep them or return them to whatever hospital we were near when we left the UK. I am sure you will find the red cross very willing to help a traveler.