I arrived at Canine Partners on Thursday 5th March with my friend, Dave, who hadn't been well, about 10.30 am for my assessment. Firstly I was with a yellow Labrador, Yanik, who had already been paired with someone but it didn't work out. He was brilliant and we went out to a field were he obeyed all my commands and I really enjoyed myself. Then came a huge Labradoodle, more like a wolfhound, he was still quite young and needed a lot more training, so he took no notice of me and decided to pee everywhere, the trainer decided that we had enough of him. Then came a beautiful, female back Lab called Fleur. When she came up to me, I said, 'my lap' and she jumped up and tried to lick me to death. She still needed a bit more training and was a bit scatty. After lunch they brought me Yanik again for more indoor training and he was very good in obeying my commands again, as you might expect from a fully trained dog. There is a command for telling the dog not to touch or pick something up, that is; 'don't touch'. The trainer put some dog biscuits on the floor and I had to walk past them with Yanik and he mustn't pick them up, all very well! I was told to walk up to the biscuits, say 'don't touch', go past, stop and give him a treat and say 'good boy'. Ok, that worked well until she put down another 4 biscuits, as I walked up to them and was about to say, 'don't touch', when Yanik lunged forward, put his paw out and pulled one towards him and eat it! I said 'don't touch' but too late and I also stopped which was the wrong thing to do. Anyway it was all a bit funny and afterwards it all worked perfectly.
After that I sat down with several of the trainers and we discussed all the questions I asked and it is 90% sure that I will be getting Yanik. They then asked me some questions and we went over to have a look at the chalets, which are very nice indeed. I will probably go down to the centre on the 12th or 19th April for the 2 weeks training course. I'll arrive on the Sunday and leave on the Friday of the following week with the dog and bring him home. They will have care there all day so I will have all my needs catered for, they will also provide all the food and do the cooking, also they will do any washing and ironing that is needed to be done. Everything has been well thought out and prepared.
I am so excited about it and looking forward to going for the training.
I'll let you know when I have the confirmation that I will be having Yanik.
Dave did extremely well as we were running very late Thurs evening and didn't get home until gone 10 pm so he had to put me to bed.
Saturday 7 March 2009
Sunday 22 February 2009
A day in the life, part 2
I know that my last blog sounded quite sad and miserable but, in fact, my life isn't! I am very happy and I don't get board because I keep busy by doing the things I said I do. Time passes by very quickly and not all my days are the same even when they look the same. Yesterday I sat out in the sun for nearly half an hour because it was a beautiful day and I found a spot in my back garden, yard, out of the breeze. The start of my summer suntan, I hope. A little while in the sun from now onwards into the summer and I'll get quite a nice suntan. I had some friends visit yesterday and they put up a bird box and a feeder in my back garden in the hope that they will attract nesting birds. I put one up last year, but nothing happened.
This afternoon I have been up to Costa Coffee in town with some other friends; who have an 18 month old girl and one on the way, due in about 6 weeks. I had my favourite drink, a medium mocha and a tiffin biscuit and we had a nice time there talking while Imogen ran around enjoying herself, as 18 month old's will do.
I have come back to write this and am now waiting for a carer to come in and make my supper. After that I'll probably watch a film before watching the evenings TV and staying on the computer. It's not a bad life after all.
This afternoon I have been up to Costa Coffee in town with some other friends; who have an 18 month old girl and one on the way, due in about 6 weeks. I had my favourite drink, a medium mocha and a tiffin biscuit and we had a nice time there talking while Imogen ran around enjoying herself, as 18 month old's will do.
I have come back to write this and am now waiting for a carer to come in and make my supper. After that I'll probably watch a film before watching the evenings TV and staying on the computer. It's not a bad life after all.
Friday 20 February 2009
A day in the life!
I don't work anymore, I used to but I gave it up in 1999 and received Incapacity Benefit. That's one of the benefits I receive. In the UK disabled people get a benefit called the Disability Living Allowance, there are two parts; the first one is to cover some living costs like carer costs; the second one is a mobility allowance which is help for getting around, towards vehicle costs or public transport costs. These benefits go a long way in making my life easier as I don't have to worry about having to find money to live on. My needs aren't very great.
I don't get up in the mornings until 9am as there's not much to do. Because of my disabilities I need carers to get me out of bed, shower and dress me and help me into my wheelchair. Once in my wheelchair I can get around my flat, more of which later. I generally watch some drama or documentary that I have recorded on my Sky + before lunch and afterwards I go on my computer and the internet. I log onto the Formula 1 sites to keep up-to-date with whats going on, read the newspaper sites and it's surprising how quickly time goes. At 6pm I turn on the BBC 1 news and then watch various programs until about 9pm when I start to get ready for bed. At 9.30pm the carers come in to put me to bed. Horrible time to go to bed and, oh, so early, you will say. But the carers knock off at 10pm and it normally takes about 1/2 hour to put me to bed. Once in bed I will watch more recorded programs from Sky + or a DVD on the TV in my bedroom, conveniently situated where I can see it!
This is a day in my life where not much happens. As a wheelchair user I am very restricted and can only go outside in the cold weather if I have a coat or jacket put on me by a carer. My carers come to see me at set times, 9am to get me up, 12.30pm for lunch, a half hour call, at 3pm to make me a coffee or help me on with my jacket if I want to go out, at 4.30pm to help me take the coat off and some personal things if I need them, at 5pm for 15 minutes for my tea call and finally at 9.30pm to put me to bed. There are days when I go out to see my daughter, Charlotte and her son Zak, or to meetings at the Papworth Trust, so my call times will be adjusted accordingly.
I will write more about going out in another blog, also about my hopes in getting an assistance dog.
See you later!
Bruce
I don't get up in the mornings until 9am as there's not much to do. Because of my disabilities I need carers to get me out of bed, shower and dress me and help me into my wheelchair. Once in my wheelchair I can get around my flat, more of which later. I generally watch some drama or documentary that I have recorded on my Sky + before lunch and afterwards I go on my computer and the internet. I log onto the Formula 1 sites to keep up-to-date with whats going on, read the newspaper sites and it's surprising how quickly time goes. At 6pm I turn on the BBC 1 news and then watch various programs until about 9pm when I start to get ready for bed. At 9.30pm the carers come in to put me to bed. Horrible time to go to bed and, oh, so early, you will say. But the carers knock off at 10pm and it normally takes about 1/2 hour to put me to bed. Once in bed I will watch more recorded programs from Sky + or a DVD on the TV in my bedroom, conveniently situated where I can see it!
This is a day in my life where not much happens. As a wheelchair user I am very restricted and can only go outside in the cold weather if I have a coat or jacket put on me by a carer. My carers come to see me at set times, 9am to get me up, 12.30pm for lunch, a half hour call, at 3pm to make me a coffee or help me on with my jacket if I want to go out, at 4.30pm to help me take the coat off and some personal things if I need them, at 5pm for 15 minutes for my tea call and finally at 9.30pm to put me to bed. There are days when I go out to see my daughter, Charlotte and her son Zak, or to meetings at the Papworth Trust, so my call times will be adjusted accordingly.
I will write more about going out in another blog, also about my hopes in getting an assistance dog.
See you later!
Bruce
Wednesday 18 February 2009
18th February, Blog with no name!
I'm just sitting at my desk and computer wondering what to write. I think that blogs should have something interesting to say otherwise there's no point in writing them.
Since writing my first blog I haven't really done anything or been anywhere. I haven't any meetings to go to at the Papworth Trust where I volunteer as a service user. I've joined the RSPB, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in this country, the UK. The work they do looks quite amazing and I hope to visit some of their Nature Reserves and, if I can lift up my binoculars, to watch the birds. Because of being wheelchair bound I might have to wait for the weather to warm up as it is easy to get cold legs sitting around all the time and not being able to move about to warm up.
I'm hoping to go to Canine Partners, http:/www.caninepartners.co.uk , next month to find out which assistance dog I will be receiving. And that is really exciting! I will obviously write all about it, but do go and have a look at their web site.
Cheers! Bruce
Since writing my first blog I haven't really done anything or been anywhere. I haven't any meetings to go to at the Papworth Trust where I volunteer as a service user. I've joined the RSPB, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in this country, the UK. The work they do looks quite amazing and I hope to visit some of their Nature Reserves and, if I can lift up my binoculars, to watch the birds. Because of being wheelchair bound I might have to wait for the weather to warm up as it is easy to get cold legs sitting around all the time and not being able to move about to warm up.
I'm hoping to go to Canine Partners, http:/www.caninepartners.co.uk , next month to find out which assistance dog I will be receiving. And that is really exciting! I will obviously write all about it, but do go and have a look at their web site.
Cheers! Bruce
Saturday 14 February 2009
I was on TV talking about how I got my disabilities.
On Thursday 12th February 2009 I was on the BBC's Look East program talking with Mark Foster, the Olympic swimmer, about my experiences since I became disabled after a motor bike accident on the 2nd July 1993. See http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7887273.stm
So here's my story: On Friday 2nd July 1993 I left work at about 5.30 pm, I was a successful Managing Director of a Flooring Distribution company in Cambridge, it was a great job, and I went home to my house in a village called Sible Hedingham in North Essex. That evening I was going to have an evening meal with my ex-in-laws in Clacton, I was divorced, and my son, James, who lived with me and who was 18 1/2 decided to come with me. It was a beautiful summers evening with temperatures in the upper 70's so I decided to go on my motor bike. Just before we left James and I hugged each other and we both said, 'I love you'. Those were the last words we spoke to each other! We left about 6.45 pm with James riding and I was pillion and we followed, what was then, the A604 through Halstead and onto the Colchester by-pass towards Clacton. At Great Bentley there was a petrol station on a slight right hand curve in the road followed by a short straight and then a left hand bend. As we got on to the left hand bend the bike suddenly slid on some diesel towards the other carriageway. Someone had overfilled their fuel tank and the diesel had spilled out. I screamed 'James' because I could see we were going to hit a car going in the other direction. When we hit it I blacked out. I woke a few times before I got to hospital, Colchester General, but I could not move at all, I couldn't even open my eyes, all I could do was breathe. After various operations I woke on the Sunday, in the afternoon I think, and was able to open my eyes for the first time. I was on a life support system and I stayed in Intensive Care for 10 days and was extremely close to dying, but I had said to myself that I wasn't going to. Quite soon after I came round, my daughter Charlotte told me that James had died from his injuries. I was devastated! My injuries were as follows: two fractures of my skull, from where my helmet had hit the car, one at my right temple which has left me with restricted movement in my left side, a bit like a stroke, and one near my brain stem; a broken pelvis and back bone; a fractured left knee; and my right leg below my knee was very badly smashed where it had hit the car, but they managed to repair it. I cannot really remember what happened for the first 8 weeks or so. In October 1993 I was transferred to a rehabilitation hospital near Guildford where I stayed for two months. I went in on my back and came out walking! I was then transferred to a hospital near Braintree in Essex where I carried on with rehabilitation. When I could walk about 100 yds in my zimmer frame, I had also started to walk on crutches, and climb a flight of stairs I was sent home, that was March 1994. At that time I was quite confident that I would carry on healing and would end up by being able to walk in crutches and lead a fairly normal life. However, that wasn't to be.
After about 3 months at home it became apparent that I had started to regress as I was finding it increasingly more difficult to climb the stairs. The health people stopped my appointments with the physiotherapists as I wasn't progressing so I found myself confined to my house, not being able to go outside. I carried on doing my own exercises but it didn't help. Finally I couldn't climb the stairs so my bed was brought down and put in the dinning room. I had to wash at the kitchen sink standing on a towel. It was horrible! A visiting neurosurgeon told me that my regression had probably been caused by scarring of the nerve tissue at my brain stem, so the messages from my brain were not getting through properly. This is when I started to get depressed. On the surface I tried not to show it, but I could not get out of my house unless someone took me out in my wheelchair, I was living downstairs without being able to shower or have a bath. And on top of that my right leg wasn't healing properly. In October I went to see the consultant who had operated on me after the accident and, after discussion, we decided that my leg should be amputated below the knee. I asked that the operation be delayed until Christmas because I didn't want to have to spend Christmas on my own with my two daughters, Charlotte and Vikki, only visiting and not staying. So what did life have to offer me? My dreams of making a nearly full recovery shattered and a life in a wheelchair beckoned. A house I couldn't get out of, having to stay in and looking at four walls and no right leg. It was obvious that I wouldn't be able to go back to work. I really got depressed and that was when I decided to take an overdose of sleeping tablets thinking it would kill me. So I wrote letters to my daughters, my mother and my brother and when I thought it was the right time I took about 25 tablets. It was a lot easier than I thought it might be. As I fell asleep I also fell out of my wheelchair onto my kitchen floor and that is where I was found. I woke in hospital after about 18 hours sleep and with an upset stomach. It resulted in a week in hospital, a talk with a psychiatrist and, a good bollicking from my mother who, at 83, told me that I was still her baby and that really made me feel really bad! Of course, Charlotte and Vikki told me that it didn't matter how badly injured I was, I was still their father and they loved and needed me and that I mustn't do it again. Talk about a guilt trip! To take an overdose as I did, one has to be very, very depressed. I did not think I was being selfish, I just thought that everyone would be better off without me, then they wouldn't have to worry about me any more. Of course, in hindsight, this is a totally wrong attitude. You do not know what the future holds for you and in my case, the future as actually very bright. One of the problems was that nobody had told me that there was life if you ere disabled, something that the doctors and Social Services should have done.
My right leg was amputated below the knee over Christmas 1994 and in January '95 I was transferred to Addenbrookes hospital in Cambridge to have the prosthesis fitted. While I was there I had more rehabilitation and I found that I could stand and even walk very slightly, although it didn't last long. I was there for two months and at the end the consultant, who was a trustee at the Papworth Trust, a charity for disabled people, in Papworth Everard thought it would be a good idea if I went there for a two week assessment. It was talked over with my Social Services who agreed, so I went there in the middle of March 1995. Previously as an able bodied person who had lived a fairly normal life, working, bring up a family, going on holidays and moving house, I had never given much thought about disabled people, certainly what sort of life they led. When I got there I was still depressed, but that rapidly changed. Although I was in a 12' x 12' square bedroom with shared toilet and bathroom facilities in a residential home, I quickly found out that there was life if you were disabled. I could get out and about in the village and there were carers to look after me. My company and I had parted ways so my assessment found out what I would be able to do and, as I quite liked the computing world I went on a computer course. I then decided to put my house up for sale as I didn't want to leave the Papworth Trust and the friends I had made in a short time. It was agreed with Social Services that I could stay and so I did. I found out that I could drive and also that there was a sailing club for people with disabilities at Graffham Water reservoir near Huntingdon. As I had been a windsurfer before my accident, the thought of sailing in a tri-maran really excited me so I joined the club and went sailing, it was wonderful. However, I had to stop in the late summer of '95 as I had to have a tracheotomy fitted in my throat; all as a result of my screaming when I had the accident; and because I was having trouble breathing as my vocal cords weren't opening properly. If I had a bad cold, I might not be able to breathe at all. I started the process of buying a converted Ford Transit mini-bus which came through in the summer of 1996 and it is still going strong and, most importantly of all, it gives me my freedom! The Papworth Trust found me employment in a printing works where I did telephone sales; I then transferred to an electrical company where I did the buying. I started working in 1995 and finished in August 1999. I found that I was getting too tired to work and I asked my doctor to sign me off, which he happily did. In September 1998 I moved out of the residential home into a small flat in a supported housing scheme, just across the road from the home, still in Papworth Everard. Here I had a lounge, a bedroom and an en-suite. I shared the kitchen with 3 other tenants whose flats were in the same corridor as mine. I was very comfortable living there and I kept myself quite busy. I had a computer and went on the internet almost every day and followed my favourite interest, Formula 1. As I was so pleased with what the Papworth Trust had done for me, I decided to give something back and in 2005 I joined the User Council, which was hoped to give input to the various parts of the trust. I was then elected to be a Trustee User Representative, this is a service user who sits on the trustee meetings and is allowed to comment on anything they think needs commenting upon. They cannot vote though as they are not trustees. I represent the housing division and I go to meetings of the teams in that division, which I can comment on as well. It is voluntary work for me and I thoroughly enjoy it.
In the summer of 2005 I was asked if I would like to move to Huntingdon, to one of the new flats that were being built in the Foundations for Living project. I looked at the drawings and asked if I could have a two bedroom flat and was told that I could. I wanted to have two bedrooms so that my family could stay with me. My younger daughter, Vikki, had moved to Edinburgh with her partner and baby son, so for them to be able to come and stay would be amazing, and it was. I moved into the flat in March 2007 and once I settled in I thought it was the best decision that I could have made. Huntingdon is a great little town with the shops, Sainsbury's only 5 minutes away as is the town centre. I go to Costa Coffee a couple of times a week to read or to watch the world go by and I love it! The flat is fantastic with plenty of room for me to move around in my wheelchair. I am able to open my front door by remote control with a controller I carry around with me in my shirt pocket. My curtains and windows open and close by remote control as well as I am unable to do it myself. The light switches are set lower for me to operate as is the oven in the kitchen. The hob and the sink are able to be raised up and down by turning a handle. It’s absolutely amazing.
With my flat, my mini-bus and being able to go into town when I want to, considering what has happened to me and my life back then, totally destroyed, I couldn't be happier.
After what has happened to me I have been asked what advise I could offer people who find themselves in a similar situation. For motor bike and scooter riders I would say, always put on a full protection clothing, boots and gloves for complete protection in case of an accident. I see riders, I call them 'idiots' who ride round without gloves, for instance, and what will happen if they fall off? They put their hands down and there goes their skin! In my case, I was wearing a helmet, a leather jacket, gloves, ordinary trousers and shoes. Because I was wearing my leather jacket I did not break anything above my waist, not even my arms. The collision between the bike and the car was at approximately 100 mph, we were both doing about 50 mph, so although I was wearing my helmet I did have two fractures, but I retained my brain power. Because I was not wearing leather trousers or my boots, I severely damaged my right leg which resulted in my having it amputated below the knee. If I had worn them, would I have suffered as much damage as I did? I doubt it.
I have told you how depressed I got which resulted in my attempting to kill myself by an overdose. So how did I pull myself round afterwards? Firstly, the guilty feeling I felt after Charlotte, Vikki and my mother had talked to me about what it would have meant for them if I had succeeded. I knew then that I had to make a real effort to get back as much as I could to the person I had been before. I received a lot of encouragement from them with regular visits and then I went into hospital for my amputation and the fitting of the prosthesis. The consultant talked to me about the Papworth Trust, www.papworth.org.uk and how it was a charity for disabled people and how it could help me.
More on my next Blog.
So here's my story: On Friday 2nd July 1993 I left work at about 5.30 pm, I was a successful Managing Director of a Flooring Distribution company in Cambridge, it was a great job, and I went home to my house in a village called Sible Hedingham in North Essex. That evening I was going to have an evening meal with my ex-in-laws in Clacton, I was divorced, and my son, James, who lived with me and who was 18 1/2 decided to come with me. It was a beautiful summers evening with temperatures in the upper 70's so I decided to go on my motor bike. Just before we left James and I hugged each other and we both said, 'I love you'. Those were the last words we spoke to each other! We left about 6.45 pm with James riding and I was pillion and we followed, what was then, the A604 through Halstead and onto the Colchester by-pass towards Clacton. At Great Bentley there was a petrol station on a slight right hand curve in the road followed by a short straight and then a left hand bend. As we got on to the left hand bend the bike suddenly slid on some diesel towards the other carriageway. Someone had overfilled their fuel tank and the diesel had spilled out. I screamed 'James' because I could see we were going to hit a car going in the other direction. When we hit it I blacked out. I woke a few times before I got to hospital, Colchester General, but I could not move at all, I couldn't even open my eyes, all I could do was breathe. After various operations I woke on the Sunday, in the afternoon I think, and was able to open my eyes for the first time. I was on a life support system and I stayed in Intensive Care for 10 days and was extremely close to dying, but I had said to myself that I wasn't going to. Quite soon after I came round, my daughter Charlotte told me that James had died from his injuries. I was devastated! My injuries were as follows: two fractures of my skull, from where my helmet had hit the car, one at my right temple which has left me with restricted movement in my left side, a bit like a stroke, and one near my brain stem; a broken pelvis and back bone; a fractured left knee; and my right leg below my knee was very badly smashed where it had hit the car, but they managed to repair it. I cannot really remember what happened for the first 8 weeks or so. In October 1993 I was transferred to a rehabilitation hospital near Guildford where I stayed for two months. I went in on my back and came out walking! I was then transferred to a hospital near Braintree in Essex where I carried on with rehabilitation. When I could walk about 100 yds in my zimmer frame, I had also started to walk on crutches, and climb a flight of stairs I was sent home, that was March 1994. At that time I was quite confident that I would carry on healing and would end up by being able to walk in crutches and lead a fairly normal life. However, that wasn't to be.
After about 3 months at home it became apparent that I had started to regress as I was finding it increasingly more difficult to climb the stairs. The health people stopped my appointments with the physiotherapists as I wasn't progressing so I found myself confined to my house, not being able to go outside. I carried on doing my own exercises but it didn't help. Finally I couldn't climb the stairs so my bed was brought down and put in the dinning room. I had to wash at the kitchen sink standing on a towel. It was horrible! A visiting neurosurgeon told me that my regression had probably been caused by scarring of the nerve tissue at my brain stem, so the messages from my brain were not getting through properly. This is when I started to get depressed. On the surface I tried not to show it, but I could not get out of my house unless someone took me out in my wheelchair, I was living downstairs without being able to shower or have a bath. And on top of that my right leg wasn't healing properly. In October I went to see the consultant who had operated on me after the accident and, after discussion, we decided that my leg should be amputated below the knee. I asked that the operation be delayed until Christmas because I didn't want to have to spend Christmas on my own with my two daughters, Charlotte and Vikki, only visiting and not staying. So what did life have to offer me? My dreams of making a nearly full recovery shattered and a life in a wheelchair beckoned. A house I couldn't get out of, having to stay in and looking at four walls and no right leg. It was obvious that I wouldn't be able to go back to work. I really got depressed and that was when I decided to take an overdose of sleeping tablets thinking it would kill me. So I wrote letters to my daughters, my mother and my brother and when I thought it was the right time I took about 25 tablets. It was a lot easier than I thought it might be. As I fell asleep I also fell out of my wheelchair onto my kitchen floor and that is where I was found. I woke in hospital after about 18 hours sleep and with an upset stomach. It resulted in a week in hospital, a talk with a psychiatrist and, a good bollicking from my mother who, at 83, told me that I was still her baby and that really made me feel really bad! Of course, Charlotte and Vikki told me that it didn't matter how badly injured I was, I was still their father and they loved and needed me and that I mustn't do it again. Talk about a guilt trip! To take an overdose as I did, one has to be very, very depressed. I did not think I was being selfish, I just thought that everyone would be better off without me, then they wouldn't have to worry about me any more. Of course, in hindsight, this is a totally wrong attitude. You do not know what the future holds for you and in my case, the future as actually very bright. One of the problems was that nobody had told me that there was life if you ere disabled, something that the doctors and Social Services should have done.
My right leg was amputated below the knee over Christmas 1994 and in January '95 I was transferred to Addenbrookes hospital in Cambridge to have the prosthesis fitted. While I was there I had more rehabilitation and I found that I could stand and even walk very slightly, although it didn't last long. I was there for two months and at the end the consultant, who was a trustee at the Papworth Trust, a charity for disabled people, in Papworth Everard thought it would be a good idea if I went there for a two week assessment. It was talked over with my Social Services who agreed, so I went there in the middle of March 1995. Previously as an able bodied person who had lived a fairly normal life, working, bring up a family, going on holidays and moving house, I had never given much thought about disabled people, certainly what sort of life they led. When I got there I was still depressed, but that rapidly changed. Although I was in a 12' x 12' square bedroom with shared toilet and bathroom facilities in a residential home, I quickly found out that there was life if you were disabled. I could get out and about in the village and there were carers to look after me. My company and I had parted ways so my assessment found out what I would be able to do and, as I quite liked the computing world I went on a computer course. I then decided to put my house up for sale as I didn't want to leave the Papworth Trust and the friends I had made in a short time. It was agreed with Social Services that I could stay and so I did. I found out that I could drive and also that there was a sailing club for people with disabilities at Graffham Water reservoir near Huntingdon. As I had been a windsurfer before my accident, the thought of sailing in a tri-maran really excited me so I joined the club and went sailing, it was wonderful. However, I had to stop in the late summer of '95 as I had to have a tracheotomy fitted in my throat; all as a result of my screaming when I had the accident; and because I was having trouble breathing as my vocal cords weren't opening properly. If I had a bad cold, I might not be able to breathe at all. I started the process of buying a converted Ford Transit mini-bus which came through in the summer of 1996 and it is still going strong and, most importantly of all, it gives me my freedom! The Papworth Trust found me employment in a printing works where I did telephone sales; I then transferred to an electrical company where I did the buying. I started working in 1995 and finished in August 1999. I found that I was getting too tired to work and I asked my doctor to sign me off, which he happily did. In September 1998 I moved out of the residential home into a small flat in a supported housing scheme, just across the road from the home, still in Papworth Everard. Here I had a lounge, a bedroom and an en-suite. I shared the kitchen with 3 other tenants whose flats were in the same corridor as mine. I was very comfortable living there and I kept myself quite busy. I had a computer and went on the internet almost every day and followed my favourite interest, Formula 1. As I was so pleased with what the Papworth Trust had done for me, I decided to give something back and in 2005 I joined the User Council, which was hoped to give input to the various parts of the trust. I was then elected to be a Trustee User Representative, this is a service user who sits on the trustee meetings and is allowed to comment on anything they think needs commenting upon. They cannot vote though as they are not trustees. I represent the housing division and I go to meetings of the teams in that division, which I can comment on as well. It is voluntary work for me and I thoroughly enjoy it.
In the summer of 2005 I was asked if I would like to move to Huntingdon, to one of the new flats that were being built in the Foundations for Living project. I looked at the drawings and asked if I could have a two bedroom flat and was told that I could. I wanted to have two bedrooms so that my family could stay with me. My younger daughter, Vikki, had moved to Edinburgh with her partner and baby son, so for them to be able to come and stay would be amazing, and it was. I moved into the flat in March 2007 and once I settled in I thought it was the best decision that I could have made. Huntingdon is a great little town with the shops, Sainsbury's only 5 minutes away as is the town centre. I go to Costa Coffee a couple of times a week to read or to watch the world go by and I love it! The flat is fantastic with plenty of room for me to move around in my wheelchair. I am able to open my front door by remote control with a controller I carry around with me in my shirt pocket. My curtains and windows open and close by remote control as well as I am unable to do it myself. The light switches are set lower for me to operate as is the oven in the kitchen. The hob and the sink are able to be raised up and down by turning a handle. It’s absolutely amazing.
With my flat, my mini-bus and being able to go into town when I want to, considering what has happened to me and my life back then, totally destroyed, I couldn't be happier.
After what has happened to me I have been asked what advise I could offer people who find themselves in a similar situation. For motor bike and scooter riders I would say, always put on a full protection clothing, boots and gloves for complete protection in case of an accident. I see riders, I call them 'idiots' who ride round without gloves, for instance, and what will happen if they fall off? They put their hands down and there goes their skin! In my case, I was wearing a helmet, a leather jacket, gloves, ordinary trousers and shoes. Because I was wearing my leather jacket I did not break anything above my waist, not even my arms. The collision between the bike and the car was at approximately 100 mph, we were both doing about 50 mph, so although I was wearing my helmet I did have two fractures, but I retained my brain power. Because I was not wearing leather trousers or my boots, I severely damaged my right leg which resulted in my having it amputated below the knee. If I had worn them, would I have suffered as much damage as I did? I doubt it.
I have told you how depressed I got which resulted in my attempting to kill myself by an overdose. So how did I pull myself round afterwards? Firstly, the guilty feeling I felt after Charlotte, Vikki and my mother had talked to me about what it would have meant for them if I had succeeded. I knew then that I had to make a real effort to get back as much as I could to the person I had been before. I received a lot of encouragement from them with regular visits and then I went into hospital for my amputation and the fitting of the prosthesis. The consultant talked to me about the Papworth Trust, www.papworth.org.uk and how it was a charity for disabled people and how it could help me.
More on my next Blog.
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