Living happily in France, raising our 4 young children together, none of us expected that Alex Wood’s life, then 32, would be shattered in October 2011, when he suffered a severe traumatic brain injury while playing rugby. Indescribable pain and grief flooded our lives. Alex is now blind, severely cognitively impaired, in a wheelchair and requires 24/7 care.

Alex does not qualify for a mobility vehicle (a specially adapted vehicle to transport physically disabled people/those requiring wheelchairs).The vehicle we had for a short time has been taken back. I have exhausted every avenue trying to solve this issue. Our only option is to raise money to buy a vehicle for Alex that can be used to spend time out of a care home with his children.

Without a vehicle, father-of-four Alex, now 39, is restricted to a care home environment as his only option for spending time with his children.

When we had the vehicle, the amount it enriched Alex’s life was immeasurable. The different environments Alex got to be involved in, the normal environments and places we all take for granted; he now cannot access the world outside the care home. He cannot spend time with his children in any other environment than the care home. He is restricted to a room in a care home an hour away from his family, whom he adores.

Our children wish to describe what having a vehicle meant for their relationship with their dad:

With a vehicle: Alex gets to be outside and to be involved in his young family’s life.

Thank you for reading this, for sharing, for your support. It would change Alex’s life for the better having a vehicle he can travel in with his children.