My name is Marvin Camelo Martinez, and I am a Colombian/British dual national living in the UK and working for our wonderful NHS. I want to tell you about my amazing father, Federico.

For most of his life, Federico was a strong independent man who loved to argue politics, watch football, dance and most of all work the land on his small farm outside Cartagena de Indias in Colombia. Federico and our mother Anna raised three strong women, all of whom became medical professionals, and when he retired, he continued to be a beacon of strength and motivation for his family.

I still remember the evening in March 2016 when my sisters called to say Federico had been taken into hospital with terrible pains in his right leg. When he eventually received medical attention, it was discovered that he had a blood clot and the only course of action available to save his life was to amputate his leg above the knee.

The subsequent six years have been a huge challenge for Federico and my family in Colombia. Despite recovering physically as well as could be expected and learning to walk with a prosthetic leg, I have seen my father struggle to accept his new reality. He has undergone physiotherapy and we have made adaptations to his home and tried to support his emotional well-being, but I have seen this once strong person become depressed, anxious, and suicidal. No longer able to live independently, he feels he has lost his purpose in life.

The one thing that gives him motivation is the thought of working on his small farm outside of the city, but he has great difficulty moving around on the uneven land either by walking with a frame or using his normal wheelchair. To help him realise his dream we have been saving to buy Federico an electric wheelchair which is able to manage the terrain around the lot. I have discovered a company in Colombia where we can source an all-terrain wheelchair and it would be fantastic if you could help me raise the funds we need to make this dream come true.