On April 28th this year, my 21 year old son Mike was found collapsed and unconscious at home. He was taken by ambulance to the
Countess of Chester Hospital and transferred over to Walton Neuro Centre in Liverpool. He had suffered a bleed to his brain caused by a weaked blood vessel.

Mike spent the next 48 hours in Intensive Care before being transferred to the High Dependency Unit whilst all the time in a coma. Over the next few days he slowly regained consciousness and it became evident that he had suffered complete paralysis to the entire left hand side of his body, with similar symptoms as that of a stroke victim. A drain tube was inserted into his skull to relieve the pressure from the bleeding and over several weeks with the help of some fantastic nursing care he became more lucid and was able to speak with some effort.

Over the next 3 months in hospital Mike slowly gained some feeling and movement in his left leg. Aided by the hospital physiotherapists he was able to take his first few steps with a walking stick, but still had no movement in his left arm. On July 19th Mike was realeased from hospital in a wheelchair so that he could attend his university graduation ceremony and from that point on he has been at home. Initialy he received regular physio from the NHS at home but this slowly dwindled down.

Since September Mike has been receiving Neuro Physiotherapy in Chester by Therapy Matters, a private specialist in the field of rehabilitation after a brain injury. He has made great progress walking aided with a stick and has gained some movement in his left arm but is still unable to manipulate his left hand.

Mike attends Therapy Matters twice a week and it is hoped that I can raise £1500 to pay for 10 weeks treatment by completing a sponsored walk on New Years Eve. I hope all of you that know Mike or our family can find it in your hearts to support my walk but above all support Mike and his ongoing recovery.