Hi,

Before I start would like to thank everyone who has shown love to me in the past year either virtually or in person. It means the world to me and my family that you are taking time to read this.

In January 2017 I became paralysed, from the neck down, suddenly with no known cause. It took a lot of confused doctors and various tests until they finally diagnosed me with transverse myelitis, a rare condition that causes the spinal chord to swell. In the past year I have undergone intense physio at Southampton General Hospital, The Duke of Cornwall Spinal Unit in Salisbury and Hobbs Rehabilitation in Winchester which I was lucky enough to receive funding for by the CCG for 6 months. I now attend an NHS physio session once a week and have top ups that I pay for at Hobbs to provide me with the right amount of care. We are still unsure on how much recovery I am going to make but I am making a lot of progress and I’m hoping that with the right care I will get better and better!

This is where the wheelchair comes in... I currently sit in an Action 3 wheelchair which was given to me by the NHS when I left Salisbury. For people that know me well they’ll knowat the time I was fitted for my chair I had put on a few pounds due to the amount of medication I was on. Since then I have shrunk back to my normal Jess size (THANK GOD) which now means my chair is miles too big for me. On top of this I am currently half a body, my right side works well but my left side still needs a bit more work, which is why it would be beneficial to have a motor on the chair to stop me doing my weird one foot pushing, and allow me to get around independently when my legs can’t carry me anymore.

I have looked at so many different options and finally found a chair that fits me, is light enough for me to put into my car by myself and does the job of giving me my independence back. The Veloce chair and Benoit light drive come to £8000 all together, the NHS have already said that they will give me a voucher for £1,500 to go towards the chair, I am getting in contact with charities to see if they can help in any way and my amazing parents have said that they will help towards it too. Any donation would be really appreciated but even if you can’t donate that’s ok too, I’m just thankful that you’ve read my story and I hope I’ve raised a little awareness on TM as well as how expensive wheelchairs are.

Thank you so much for reading

Jess xxx