At the beginning of December 2022 saw a life changing event take place for me and my wife Lee-Anne. After routinely dropping Lee-Anne off at work it was no sooner had I returned to the office that I received a call to say Lee-Anne had collapsed. Lee-Anne was immediately rushed to the hospital and I was placed in the family room waiting for updates. Knowing this is never a good place to be and after receiving confirmation that Lee-Anne had experienced a ruptured brain aneurysm, I tried to contain my fears that she may have already passed away.

I was swiftly met with news that life saving brain surgery was needed immediately and the full extent of damage at this stage was unknown. Seven hours into surgery and Lee-Anne was moved to the ICU (Intensive Care Unit) where she was placed into an induced coma. Whilst in the coma it was impossible to gauge what damage had been done and no time frame could be put on as to what would happen next. All those involved in caring for Lee-Anne were absolute heroes during this time.

Fast forward post-Christmas 2022 where every day I was in the hospital for over a month, Lee-Anne awoke from the coma still fragile and moved into a high dependency ward where she would undergo extensive support and rehabilitation for weeks to come. Lee-Anne was finally released from hospital to come home only four weeks after she had collapsed. It is safe to say that her recovery is going very well with some minor (in comparison to what could have been) expected results. This is due to the high level of support received by the hospital in their critical care.

Why Phoenix Heroes? Phoenix Heroes are a Veteran run charity that do some fantastic work in supporting our veterans who find themselves homeless and also those that suffer with PTSD and other mental health complications. With a myriad of annual events and projects ongoing all monies raised goes into improving the support and reach to those in need. A fantastic community that are working incredibly hard to turn lives around.

Thank you for reading our story and any donations received would be gratefully received.