Bruce Carey's fight against SCI
Donation protected
Hello Everyone,
My name is Genina D. Carey and I'm 22 years old. I'm from Union, NJ and the only child of Bruce V. Carey, a social worker from Edison, NJ.
On February 1, 2015, my father got out of his bed to use the bathroom but never made it. He passed out on his way and broke his neck, his 3rd to 6th vertebrate to be exact. As a result, my father now has tetraplegia. Tetraplegia is paralysis caused by illness or injury to a human that results in the partial or total loss of use of all their limbs and torso. The loss is usually sensory and motor, which means that both sensation and control are lost but tetraplegia, on the other hand, means that there is muscle weakness affecting all four limbs.
After his surgery, where they replaced his 3rd to 6th vertebrate with rods and screws, he was transferred to Kessler Rehabilitation in West Orange and after two months, he was transferred to a sub-acute facility due to insurance reasons. We are now four months into his therapy and my father's progress is very slow BUT he can move his arm. All other motion is still a work in progress. A natural result of spinal cord injuries is low blood pressure, which has greatly affected my father's progress. It prevents the therapist from working on my father's injury and it's even landed him back in the hospital for a week, where a blood clot in each of his lungs was found. BUT, my dad is a fighter....
While his physical therapy is extremely important, so is house modification. As some of you may know, insurance gives a cap on how long they will continue to pay for my father to remain in a sub-acute facility and that time could and will be here before we know it. That means that we have to prepare for my dad to come home and be able to operate around the house as a handicap. We've met with contractors who specialize in modifying homes to make it handicap accessible and the job is bigger than what we expected. We have to order a wheelchair ramp for my dad's vehicle, rent a ramp for my father to get in the house, widen doors, and expand the size of the bathroom by adding a shower onto an already old house.
My father lives by himself in a house that was built by our family in the 1930's and it was eventually passed down to him. Because of the houses old age, this won’t be an easy project which would most likely result in more funding. I've tried to reach out for public funding for victims of tetraplegia but it is extremely difficult because my father is the sole owner of the house and to possible funders we're "overqualified".
Before all of this happened, my father was a healthy 63 year old man (you'd never guess that looking at him) that many love and respect. I used to call him 'The Mayor' because it was impossible for us to go anywhere without someone recognizing my father. This is all very different and difficult for me and my family because never in a million years would we think that my father would become a victim of a spinal cord injury. It's actually quite amazing to see the process that it takes for my father's body to get back on track and even though my father can't walk, feed himself, or anything else you could possibly think the human body can do.... HE'S STILL THE STRONGEST MAN I KNOW. My father's spirit never wavered. He's optimistic and he's ready for the challenge. Sometimes I look at him and ask myself how could a man that is in such a predicament be so mentally and emotionally strong? But if you know my father, I don't think you'd be too surprised.
Now I guess this is the part where I humbly ask for support because my family really needs it. I'll admit, we're in over our heads but we will prevail but ... we need some help. I'm not sure if I even know how to properly ask, but hopefully while reading my father's story, you've felt what's in my heart, my sincerity, and my love for the man that is half of the reason why I am here.... MY BEST FRIEND.
Any donation no matter big or small is a blessing and on behalf of the Carey family .... THANK YOU & GOD BLESS.
Not only is this a platform for fundraising but it's a platform for awareness because spinal cord injury can happen to anyone. I'll be posting updates and pictures of my father and his progress.....
Once again ....THANK YOU!
-Genina D. Carey
My name is Genina D. Carey and I'm 22 years old. I'm from Union, NJ and the only child of Bruce V. Carey, a social worker from Edison, NJ.
On February 1, 2015, my father got out of his bed to use the bathroom but never made it. He passed out on his way and broke his neck, his 3rd to 6th vertebrate to be exact. As a result, my father now has tetraplegia. Tetraplegia is paralysis caused by illness or injury to a human that results in the partial or total loss of use of all their limbs and torso. The loss is usually sensory and motor, which means that both sensation and control are lost but tetraplegia, on the other hand, means that there is muscle weakness affecting all four limbs.
After his surgery, where they replaced his 3rd to 6th vertebrate with rods and screws, he was transferred to Kessler Rehabilitation in West Orange and after two months, he was transferred to a sub-acute facility due to insurance reasons. We are now four months into his therapy and my father's progress is very slow BUT he can move his arm. All other motion is still a work in progress. A natural result of spinal cord injuries is low blood pressure, which has greatly affected my father's progress. It prevents the therapist from working on my father's injury and it's even landed him back in the hospital for a week, where a blood clot in each of his lungs was found. BUT, my dad is a fighter....
While his physical therapy is extremely important, so is house modification. As some of you may know, insurance gives a cap on how long they will continue to pay for my father to remain in a sub-acute facility and that time could and will be here before we know it. That means that we have to prepare for my dad to come home and be able to operate around the house as a handicap. We've met with contractors who specialize in modifying homes to make it handicap accessible and the job is bigger than what we expected. We have to order a wheelchair ramp for my dad's vehicle, rent a ramp for my father to get in the house, widen doors, and expand the size of the bathroom by adding a shower onto an already old house.
My father lives by himself in a house that was built by our family in the 1930's and it was eventually passed down to him. Because of the houses old age, this won’t be an easy project which would most likely result in more funding. I've tried to reach out for public funding for victims of tetraplegia but it is extremely difficult because my father is the sole owner of the house and to possible funders we're "overqualified".
Before all of this happened, my father was a healthy 63 year old man (you'd never guess that looking at him) that many love and respect. I used to call him 'The Mayor' because it was impossible for us to go anywhere without someone recognizing my father. This is all very different and difficult for me and my family because never in a million years would we think that my father would become a victim of a spinal cord injury. It's actually quite amazing to see the process that it takes for my father's body to get back on track and even though my father can't walk, feed himself, or anything else you could possibly think the human body can do.... HE'S STILL THE STRONGEST MAN I KNOW. My father's spirit never wavered. He's optimistic and he's ready for the challenge. Sometimes I look at him and ask myself how could a man that is in such a predicament be so mentally and emotionally strong? But if you know my father, I don't think you'd be too surprised.
Now I guess this is the part where I humbly ask for support because my family really needs it. I'll admit, we're in over our heads but we will prevail but ... we need some help. I'm not sure if I even know how to properly ask, but hopefully while reading my father's story, you've felt what's in my heart, my sincerity, and my love for the man that is half of the reason why I am here.... MY BEST FRIEND.
Any donation no matter big or small is a blessing and on behalf of the Carey family .... THANK YOU & GOD BLESS.
Not only is this a platform for fundraising but it's a platform for awareness because spinal cord injury can happen to anyone. I'll be posting updates and pictures of my father and his progress.....
Once again ....THANK YOU!
-Genina D. Carey
Organizer
Genina Carey
Organizer
Edison, NJ