Our Story… The 5th July 2017, will be a day Gary and all of us will never forget.

Gary was cycling to work as he always did on hot summer days. He was cycling along Lea Valley canal path when he misjudged his surroundings and came off over the top of his bike landing head first. We thought it was a minor accident at first as Gary was only going at 10-12mph, how wrong we were. The impact of the fall caused Gary to sustain a spinal cord injury at level C3/C4 in his neck. Immediately Gary knew there was a problem as he unable to move any part of his body.

He was rushed to The Royal London hospital where a CAT scan and MRI confirmed that Gary had a compression in his spine. He needed emergency surgery to remove two discs to relieve the pressure on his spine.

The implications of removing the discs, and the damage to Gary’s spine has rendered him a Tetraplegic. Meaning he now has limited use to his arms and is unable to walk. He spent 4 and half months in hospital with the majority in the Stanmore Royal Orthopaedic Hospital, where we all hoped he would make a full recovery and be able to walk.

In November Gary returned home, but not as he knew it. Gary now has a team of specialized carers, who are with him 24/7 in the house, who now have to do everything for him.

To compound matters, Gary had a previous hip condition that hadn’t really impacted a great deal on him. But being in hospital having spasms in the legs, being rolled in the bed, having physio and attempting to walk was causing him great pain. Being in constant pain affected Gary greatly on how far he could push himself in physio sessions. So in April Gary underwent a hip replacement operation to stop the hip dislocating, unfortunately he still experiencing pain, but his leg is now stronger.

As you can imagine for someone who enjoyed taking part in all sports, always very active and has such a passion for cycling, it’s very hard to deal with. As a family member you feel totally helpless, you try to do all you can to help out day to day, but the reality of seeing someone you love in such a hard heart breaking situation is really tough.

Gary continues to surprise us with his positive attitude and strength towards his road to recovery. He will continue to push himself to go as far as he can, but how far that is we don’t know. The likelihood is that he could be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

So with help from friends and family we are holding a Charity Gala Event on Saturday 29th September at The Prince Regent, Chigwell. Where we will be holding an auction to raise funds for rehab equipment at home to aid Gary’s recovery.

If you can help with a donation, it would be so gratefully received.