Writing this is harder than filling out a profile on a dating site. I wasn't very good at that either. If you know me you know I'm a happy go lucky kind of guy who just deals with life and gets on with it, which is true for the most part.

For those of you who don't know me I’m John from Catterick North Yorkshire. I have a degenerative neuromuscular condition called Spinal Muscular Atrophy Type II (SMA). This is a genetic condition which I've had since birth and to put it in the simplest terms I don't have much strength in my body as my muscles are wasting away. It is a progressive condition and over time I have got weaker and I have to rely on my family and fantastic care team every day.

I've used a powered wheelchair since the age of five years old. I've had lots of chairs throughout the years, a lot of them were bought through fundraising but the chairs I've had for the past 16 years were provided to me from the NHS which worked for me and my needs. However now my needs have changed quite a lot. I find it very difficult to use a joystick now as I just don't have the strength in my arms so after looking at alternative driving control systems, I had an assessment at my local NHS wheelchair centre where we discussed my needs and a chair was ordered. I have since heard that the order request has been rejected and another chair has been sourced and is not fit for purpose.

The chair that was ordered would have met most of my needs and enable me to drive myself but the chair I really want and would have definitely been rejected allows me to lie flat which would make a tremendous difference to me as I'm sat in it all day and suffer from a lot of hip pain. Having the ability to lie flat would really ease the day-to-day pain.

I'm looking at getting the Sunrise Medical Q700M .

The chair is going to cost in excess of £20,000. The base price for the chair is £14,000 but because of my specific needs and all add-ons needed this bumps the price up.

I don't think I've paid £20,000 for a vehicle let alone a new chair. I'm saving what money I can and planning some fundraising events to help get my new chair. Any donations you make are gratefully received. Thank you for reading.