After an amazing childhood growing up in Luton and Harpenden I suffered a severe spinal-cord injury at C4/C5 Complete in November 2012, I was just 20 years old and am now a high-level Tetraplegic. In my teenage years and around the time of my accident I had trained hard to become a carpenter and worked on and off with my dad and a number of other companies. I had a wide group of friends, a long-term girlfriend and was enjoying life as a young adult. I had been driving since I was 17 years old and loved driving with my friends and listening to music.

The Accident

My life changed forever on 10 November 2012. That weekend I had been working with a company which dealt in specialist bespoke kitchen fitting for three months and was really enjoying it. My friend and I went out for a late-night drive in my car I had bought a few months before and was heading through No Man’s Land, Wheathamstead, Hertfordshire when I crashed my car onto a grass verge, the car rolled several times and ended up against a tree. Luckily my friend got out the car with some minor injuries however I was stuck in the car and couldn’t move. I remember feeling pins and needles throughout my whole body and shouting my parents’ home telephone number out to my friend for him to ring my parents before passing out shortly after. Due to the level of my injuries and the fact I couldn’t move when the emergency services arrived I had to be carefully cut out of the car and was taken to St Mary’s Hospital, Paddington in London to their major trauma ward. I had lots of x-rays, MRI scans and CT scans which gave the results of my injuries. Over the next few days I developed a serious chest infection and my stability started to deteriorate. Due to the chest infection and other complications my lung collapsed and my heart stopped. Luckily for me the nurses and doctors were well aware my condition was worsening and they were quick to react. They saved my life once again and I woke up from the medically induced coma in intensive care. Because of the chest infection and other problems I had to have a tracheostomy to help me breathe and a peg in my stomach to feed me while on heavy medication and pain relief for my injuries.

Hospitals, Rehabilitation & Complications

After six weeks in ITU in St Mary’s hospital, having several operations to rebuild and fuse my spine and surviving many life-threatening complications I was well enough to be transferred to the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in London, Stanmore to begin the early stages of my rehabilitation. I was transferred to Stanmore’s intensive care unit on Christmas Eve where I began to be weaned off the heavy medication, and also started to be weaned off the ventilator to breathe for myself. During these early stages I started to learn how to swallow fluids again. This is the point where I started to gain movement back and was able to lift my right arm however I was very weak and could only just lift my forearm. After weeks of weaning off the medication and ventilator, seeing OT’s and physiotherapists I was moved onto the spinal-cord injury ward to begin my full rehabilitation. The OT’s got me a wheelchair and I started mobilising, the physiotherapists continued with my stretches and assessing my movement which was improving, and the specialist rehabilitation nurses were teaching me about life with the spinal-cord injury and how to cope. At this point I began to sink into a deep depression and because of this I became seriously ill again with a rare condition called superior mesenteric artery syndrome which also nearly took my life. After recovering from this I worked extremely hard with the hospital and their staff. At this stage I started to become stronger. I had gained movement in both my arms and started to learn to use a hand controlled powered wheelchair. With the help of splints I was able to feed myself at mealtimes and was eventually ready to return to the real world and be discharged.

My Discharge

I was discharged from Stanmore hospital on my 21st birthday in July 2013. It was decided I would return to living at my parents’ house with a 24-hour carer while I was getting used to my new life. With the help of a grant my parents were having the house adapted to accommodate me. They had their garage converted into my bedroom, the kitchen converted into a wet room and an extension at the back of the house for a new kitchen. While the building work was happening I was living in the living room. I was still severely depressed due to what had happened and because the relationship with my girlfriend had broken down some months before. Because I had nothing to do I spent most of my days in bed asleep or watching movies. A charity called Special Effects had set me up with an adaptive controller that enabled me to play simple computer games and I spent a lot of my time playing FIFA. In the build up to Christmas in 2013 our family were struck once again with illness and my father suffered a severe stroke which put him in hospital for a number of months and is now also in a wheelchair. At this time the parents’ house was only halfway through being adapted and we had no flooring or paintwork throughout the downstairs living space. My dad’s friends came round to finish off fitting the kitchen and flooring and we had someone come out to do the painting and decorating. When my dad was discharged from hospital in 2014 he had his bed set up in the living room area and I was in the bedroom that had been adapted for me. Having two dogs and two wheelchairs in such a small space was extremely difficult. They ended up having a stair lift fitted for my dad to transfer onto to get to an upstairs bedroom to sleep. Space was still very limited and we were trying to share a wet room Therefore we then contacted the council about the possibility of moving me to an independent property so I dad could have the downstairs area. While all this was happening I was getting involved with a spinal-cord injury charity called the Backup Trust. They have many goals and services, one of which is a program where you go on specialist courses designed for people spinal-cord injuries. In 2014 I went on a week-long trip with the backup trust to the Lake District for a multi-activities week. This course was truly amazing. I met lots of other people spinal-cord injuries and had a fantastic week. We went kayaking, sailing, swimming, camping and much more. This course showed me their life isn’t over because I have a spinal-cord injury and helped me find the courage to continue with my new life.

My New Life

I have continued to live a fulfilling life albeit with further complications due to my spinal cord injury. I have had to undergo many operations to improve my quality of life. These have included a baclofen pump, a stoma, removal of infected tissues and many occasions spent on bed rest due to pressure sores. I am now living in my own flat with my assistance dog, Ralph and a 24 hour carer. Ralph was introduced to me by a charity called Canine Partners and I couldn’t be without him. Ralph has given me a lot of independence and companionship, and has successfully allowed me to manage my depression. I often deliver speeches to local schools and authorities on the dangers of driving at night and to show younger people what the outcome could be should they not be paying attention. I also decided to continue my studies at college and I am working towards completing my counselling qualifications.