A Story of Jeff and his recovery....

The dental team at Grayes Dental Care in Huddersfield have been inspired to take on the demanding Yorkshire Three Peaks challenge to raise money for a courageous patient who has tetraplegia.

Jeff Sykes, who has been a patient at Grayes Dental Care for 5 years, was an accomplished golfer, walker, skier and guide before his accident in November 2018 when he slipped in his garden on a wet path whilst out with his dog Jess. This caused severe whiplash injury to his neck. He was rushed to Leeds General Infirmary, where they discovered he had damage to his spinal cord. After an operation to relieve pressure from the spinal cord and a two week stay in LGI, they transferred Jeff to the spinal rehabilitation unit at Pinderfields in Wakefield where he spent an intense 6 months of physiotherapy treatment.

Jennifer Graye, Principal Dentist, said: “Our team were so shocked by the life-changing consequences of Jeff’s accident as it could just as easily happen to any one of us. Jeff is still managing to live at home and is being cared for by his family so the accident has forever changed all of their lives. We wanted to do something positive to show our support as they have been so brave at dealing with the consequences of Jeff’s accident.”

“Myself & wife Carol can’t thank the team at Grayes Dental Care enough for their undertaking and for their professionalism in looking after my dental health and I look forward to many years as one of their valued patients. I look forward to meeting them in the pub afterwards”.

The Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge takes on the peaks of Pen-y-ghent, Whernside and Ingleborough, usually in this order, and in under 12 hours. This is no small feat as the team will have to hike 24 miles and climb over 5,000 feet.

Sinead Hine, Practice Manager, said: “There are seven of our team taking part in the walk in June 2019. We were so inspired by how brave Jeff has been that we wanted to do something memorable to raise money for him and his family as physiotherapy and equipment for tetraplegia can be very expensive. We have set up a Just Giving page and are asking our families, friends, and patients to sponsor us.”

Our plea is for everyone to read this and hope you would do the same if this happened to one of your friends or relatives.