Getting Graham Home
Donation protected
Graham and my mum married too long ago to remember a date or the decade! They went on to have two boys Si and Adam both in their 30's now, making me their very much older half sister!
Like most families we had our up and downs growing up, but my mum and Graham coped and got through most of the downs well, to be fair they have a rough ride for a while there, but they have stuck it out and although the past 17 months have been just awful they appear to be stronger than ever.
In April 2015 (Easter time to be exact), Graham walked into an NHS hospital in Essex for a routine operation, through the early hours of Good Friday, he suffered a lot of pains in his legs and complained from 3am in the morning until 11am later that morning, not much was done about this pain and as a result he went on to have full body spasms which as a result left in completely paralysed from the neck down, he can move his arms, but has no function in his wrist, fingers, back, legs or toes, he is now fully reliant on a carer 24 hours of the day to clean him, feed him, help him with everything that he was able to do for himself before that operation.
The hospital which I will not name for legal reasons, were not quick enough, did not have adequate staff and failed him badly.
Since his op in 2015 and to this current date, both my mum and Graham have literally been through hell, we have tried so hard to fight to get Graham home, but every organisation and agency involved in this process has either delayed the process, made promises they didn’t keep or have advised the cost is too high.
1. Continuing Health (NHS) have advised they will not pay for a full time carer if Graham was moved home as the cost is too high, we came back and advised we would make the difference up in the cost, to which we were told the cost couldn’t be covered in this way. It is basically cheaper to keep him in the nursing home he has currently been living in with older people for the past nine months than getting him home, this however is not the best solution, he is lonely, miserable and doesn’t always receive the care he would be getting if he was at home with a live in carer .
2. Occupational Health in Norwich have visited their home and will only offer certain funding to make the house safe for Graham, they are not prepared to work with mum in the necessary changes required. Last week they have also advised mum she wont be able to make any adaptions to the house unless Graham moves home full time, meaning when we can bring him home for days the house isnt safe for him, nor can he have easy wheelchair access
3. PIP and Motability, basically wrote to my mum advising Graham was eligible for a Motability benefit - Hooray, I hear you say a light finally, this was short lived, Mum paid a deposit on a large van and for the adaptions for Grahams wheelchair, only to be told, they had made an error and he is not eligible until he is living at home full time.
So we have spent a good nine months backwards and forwards, hitting brick walls and today are no further forward.
So for now, we are not giving up the fight, but do need to make the house and garden wheelchair friendly for Graham. We brought a used van that was already suitable for Grahams wheelchair so at least we can get him home and out and about.
If we can raise money to make the garden and house more wheelchair friendly, this will mean the world to both Graham and my mum.
We have agreed that any money raised through this site through friends, family and other donations from the public, will be paid back in full to RNOH (Stanmore) Spinal Unit, when they win their clinical negligence case against the NHS trust responsible for putting Graham in this situation.
Like most families we had our up and downs growing up, but my mum and Graham coped and got through most of the downs well, to be fair they have a rough ride for a while there, but they have stuck it out and although the past 17 months have been just awful they appear to be stronger than ever.
In April 2015 (Easter time to be exact), Graham walked into an NHS hospital in Essex for a routine operation, through the early hours of Good Friday, he suffered a lot of pains in his legs and complained from 3am in the morning until 11am later that morning, not much was done about this pain and as a result he went on to have full body spasms which as a result left in completely paralysed from the neck down, he can move his arms, but has no function in his wrist, fingers, back, legs or toes, he is now fully reliant on a carer 24 hours of the day to clean him, feed him, help him with everything that he was able to do for himself before that operation.
The hospital which I will not name for legal reasons, were not quick enough, did not have adequate staff and failed him badly.
Since his op in 2015 and to this current date, both my mum and Graham have literally been through hell, we have tried so hard to fight to get Graham home, but every organisation and agency involved in this process has either delayed the process, made promises they didn’t keep or have advised the cost is too high.
1. Continuing Health (NHS) have advised they will not pay for a full time carer if Graham was moved home as the cost is too high, we came back and advised we would make the difference up in the cost, to which we were told the cost couldn’t be covered in this way. It is basically cheaper to keep him in the nursing home he has currently been living in with older people for the past nine months than getting him home, this however is not the best solution, he is lonely, miserable and doesn’t always receive the care he would be getting if he was at home with a live in carer .
2. Occupational Health in Norwich have visited their home and will only offer certain funding to make the house safe for Graham, they are not prepared to work with mum in the necessary changes required. Last week they have also advised mum she wont be able to make any adaptions to the house unless Graham moves home full time, meaning when we can bring him home for days the house isnt safe for him, nor can he have easy wheelchair access
3. PIP and Motability, basically wrote to my mum advising Graham was eligible for a Motability benefit - Hooray, I hear you say a light finally, this was short lived, Mum paid a deposit on a large van and for the adaptions for Grahams wheelchair, only to be told, they had made an error and he is not eligible until he is living at home full time.
So we have spent a good nine months backwards and forwards, hitting brick walls and today are no further forward.
So for now, we are not giving up the fight, but do need to make the house and garden wheelchair friendly for Graham. We brought a used van that was already suitable for Grahams wheelchair so at least we can get him home and out and about.
If we can raise money to make the garden and house more wheelchair friendly, this will mean the world to both Graham and my mum.
We have agreed that any money raised through this site through friends, family and other donations from the public, will be paid back in full to RNOH (Stanmore) Spinal Unit, when they win their clinical negligence case against the NHS trust responsible for putting Graham in this situation.
Organizer
Danielle Fowles
Organizer