Hello to everyone who is viewing the event. I will be trying to raise money for the Home From Home Appeal which is to help The Walton Centre build accommodation that will allow families of patients to stay overnight whilst their relative is receiving life saving treatment in the Walton Centre.  The appeal is also to raise money for extra equipment and therapy gardens for the Walton Centre Neuro Rehabilitation Unit.  Myself and four other friends will be doing the British Three Peaks challenge from the 1 July- 3 July 2013.

 I am a former patient of the Walton Centre as I was involved in a road traffic accident on 28 July 2010.  I leave you now with a description of my injury and how my time was when I was a patient in the Walton Centre, written by my mum, who was there every single day.

 

“ Joe was knocked over by a car in Leeds in July 2010 and he suffered a very severe traumatic brain injury. He was taken by ambulance to Leeds General Infirmary and had two major operations within 24 hours to deal with bleeds on his brain. During one of these operations he had a large piece of his skull removed to relieve pressure on his brain. His family were told that he was critically ill and that every hour he remained alive was a bonus. Joe remained in intensive care and three weeks later he was transferred to The Walton Centre for Neurology, in Liverpool, so that he could be nursed nearer his home. He spent a further two weeks in intensive care and was able to respond to simple commands like “squeeze my hand” although he was asleep most of the time and needed a tracheotomy to help him breathe. Joe’s body was totally “floppy”. It took four physiotherapists to support him to sit on the edge of the bed for just a few seconds. He couldn’t hold his head up or speak, eat or drink and was fed through a tube in his nose. Joe was later transferred to Caton Ward and unfortunately his condition deteriorated and he became desperately ill. He stopped responding to any commands and stopped moving his limbs. He lost the ability to digest the liquid “food” and vomited persistently. He also went in to spasm when anyone tried to move or touch him and could not control his heart rate. By October 2010, all of the doctors lost hope that Joe would make any recovery and his family were given the devastating news that he would be in a vegetative state for the rest of his life. However, Joe’s family and friends never lost hope and spent many hours each day talking to him and showing him photographs, trying to find some way of getting through to Joe and bringing him back.

Joe became part of the furniture on Caton Ward because he was there for such a long time and the staff became very fond of him. They did everything they could to stimulate Joe. They always played music on his ipod and although they were very busy with other patients they tried to sit and talk to Joe. Sometimes we would arrive for the evening visit to find Joe in his wheelchair sitting with all the staff at the nurse’s station! It was a great relief to Joe’s family to know that he was being cared for so well as poor Joe could not do anything for himself or communicate in any way.

Remarkably, in January 2011 Joe very slowly started to open his eyes sometimes and reach for things with his left hand. Occasionally he showed signs of recognising his visitors and one day to everyone’s surprise he started smiling when his sister was going through our daily ritual of showing him photographs of his family and friends. Joe’s consultant was amazed and advised that it would be to Joe’s benefit for him to transfer to a rehab centre as it now looked as though he would make some sort of recovery, although nobody knew what his outcome would be. On 1February 2011, Joe moved to a rehab centre in Bury. The staff on the ward gave Joe a really good send off, with lots of balloons and presents. It was a very emotional day for everyone. Joe still could not speak but it was great to see him smile and give a “thumbs up” to everyone.

In October 2011 Joe was re-admitted to the Walton Centre to have the missing section of his skull replaced with a titanium plate. The staff were delighted to see him again and the operation was very successful.

In March 2012, nineteen months after his accident, Joe finally came home, although he was still in a wheelchair and had many other issues to deal with. He has, since then, continued to work hard with his rehab.

It is now two and a half years since Joe’s accident and he has continued to amaze everyone with his recovery. Miraculously, and through sheer hard work and determination, he is now walking, eating and speaking and living life to the full.”

 

From what my mum has written and what I am told by friends, family and other colleagues I could not believe how much the members of the Walton Centre helped me throughout the time I spent there. They did not just help me, they also helped anyone who visited to see me by helping them feel welcome as much as they could. I really can’t thank them enough for how much I was helped and taken care of whilst I was in the Walton Centre. I am now trying to help the Walton Centre become able to create and complete the project Home From Home. This will allow relatives of patients to stay extremely close to the Walton Centre. There can be patients that live far away from the Walton Centre like North Wales or the Isle of Mann who need support from their families so this project will allow their family to stay close by and will make patients feel a lot more relaxed and happier knowing that their family is near.

I know that people usually aim to do the three peaks within 24 hours but it will still be a huge challenge for me to do the three peaks in three days as I was unable to walk properly for nearly two years from 2010-2012. I will be training as hard as I can until the 1 of July and I will be determined to complete it. I will be taking on the challenge with four comrades: Daniel Sharpe, Paul Easton, Patrick Nicholls and Wayne Law. These four will really push me to successfully climb the three peaks. So please donate to this worthwhile cause. The Walton Centre staff really helped me not just survive but get back to a normal life.  I know from my own experience that having my family close by helped enormously with my own recovery.  However, as the Walton Centre is an internationally renowned centre of excellence many patients are not local to the area. The option of their families being able to stay nearby really will make a huge positive impact on their recovery. Rehabilitation is also vital following any sort of brain injury so it would be fantastic to help improve the rehab unit. It really would be great if we could raise as much as possible so please support us and donate!