Kenneth has been my partner since 1988 when we were introduced by a mutual friend whom we knew through business ties, at the time my then husband of 16 weeks had vanished and I'd gone out on a social outing with work colleagues to "soften" the blow. After 2 years I was formally divorced and have lived with Kenneth till now 15/5/2018.

At the time Kenneth had his own business ScreenHeat which he'd run since 1980 and continued to operate until 1998 when he sold the business due to circumstances that meant he could no longer function effectively through what may be regarded as a stress condition.

In 1992 he was diagnosed with a benign pituitary tumour and commenced medication to deal with that resulting in surgery to deal with a cerebro spinal fluid (CSF) leak that took place in 1993. At time we had been in the process of buying our 1st property and the entry date was 22nd April 1993 the day I was released from the Neurology ward.

During his recovery from the triple surgeries Kenneth's father ran the business with remote support from home and his 2 staff members, and his eventual retun to work in October 1993 meant adjustment to starting all over again. The business progressed through this time with all the demands required and various developments saw a designer employed, and what seemed like a promising future as he continued the re-building process.

In the aftermath of the surgery Kenneth found himself prone to extreme fatigue and also yeast infections that were treated with antibiotics, creams and finally Diflucan that were meant to eradicate the issue and unfortunately it did not and the result seemed to "stay" with him and a number of other symptoms caused him further difficulties such as the ability to stay focussed on the job at hand, a generalised sense of aches and pains and other irritating effects that meant he never felt 100% healthy much of the time along with a tendency towards lethargy. It all seemed to cause increased anxiety and decision making was harder to achieve in order to succeed with the run of the mill activities most take on as per normal..

Things were to change dramatically in 1996 when, overnight on the 4th October, Kenneth was called by Sgt John Duncan around 3am to be told that his business premises were alight and a fire engine was in attendance. He immediately got dressed and drove the few miles to his place of work viewing a pillar of smoke as he approached. The building ultimately succumbed and 16 years worth of energy and effort went up in smoke and in truth has been very hard recovering from that. The decision to continue his business borne out of his stubborn nature was one that may have been an error in hindsight but at the time seemed the right thing to do. The business was sold to another local printing company and his time as a screenprinter came to ignominious end that is still tinged with sadness and regret.

My Spinal injury story - Kenneth McPherson.

In 2012 I fell at work and broke my ankle and as I recovered from this found my feet had a tingling sensation and thought this was nothing more than that and was seen by an Orthopaedic Consultant who examined my injured ankle and didn't mention this to him and left it at that.

Between this time the tingling continued and then one morning, which I cannot remember precisely when, I was getting dressed and involuntarily found myself falling forward and again just put it down to "age" advancing. Again thinking no more about it I did not pursue medical assistance at the time around 2014 approximately, by 2015 the tingling had become more noticeable and in December arranged an appointment with my GP who took bloods and this came back as negative for diabetes and cancer. She referred me to Neurology and was seen and examined by a Neurologist to ascertain my physical well-being and was told by him that it could be nerve damage but an MRI would be required to begin the next step in my diagnosis. This revealed impingement in the cervical vertebrae at c5/c6 and was then seen by a Neurosurgeon who discussed the scan with me and advised that I would need a whole of spine MRI to complete the process. The 2nd scan revealed that I also had Lumbar Stenosis and after my last consultation was advised that surgery was not needed and would be reviewed in March 2018. To date I am still awaiting this appointment and am what would generally be described as "between a rock and a hard place.

In the last few days (15/5/18) he was seen by a physiotherapist to determine a regime of physical exercises to retain musclature health with a positive outlook on the future. A Spinal Cord injury falls into the category of the invisible, unseen and therefore suffers from being problematic for those who know or don't know you.

How Did Kenneth's Spinal Stenosis occur?

Kenneth visited his parents on an un-announced occasion, the front door was often locked but this time I turned the door handle and stepped in and fell through the trap door into the foundations. He managed to catch himself with his arms and climbed out to the floor level having gathered his thoughts and on the face of it suffered impact injury to his chest and was oblivious to any spinal injury. He's unsure of when this occurred specifically but estimated 2010 as the possible time of the incident. Once the pain had subsided he thought his injury was otherwise "cured" and took no further action till the symptoms began to present further down the track.

Kenneth has been off work long term sick for 7 months due to the condition and mobility is now severley challenging, with an impact on basic tasks like preparing food, getting dressed and many other things taken for granted by the able bodied.

The primary use of funds is for the purchase of a Niagara Cyclonic Therapy system which is approved for use in the NHS with certification for multiple health issues across may areas. Including Arthritis, Fatigue, Join Pain, Spinal Disorders, Multiple Sclerosis, Fibromyalgia amongst those it can assist in dealing with. It costs £1,500 and will restore much of the lost facility in terms of physical function and circulation deficiencies.

Your support is gratefully received and I appreciate that your willingness to assist is taken knowing that it will help in meeting Kenneth's future obligations. The ongoing uncertainty of what treatment may be required to alleviate the progressive degeneration of his spine/spinal cord. Thanks in advance.