Jack’s Recovery

Jack’s Story

Hi, my name is Mia and I am Jack Carter’s older (who he would call annoying) sister.

In all honesty I have sat here for hours writing and deleting bits of text because no words will ever be good enough to convey how my family and I are feeling. From the very beginning of Jacks journey we have been told that due to the nature of Jacks injuries, clinicians are unable to give predicted timescales of recovery, or what that even looks like for Jack (this is the standard advice for TBI’s). This is such a cruel and unpredictable journey, of which we have been, and are living every single day with the hope that our Jack will come back to us. The twisted nature of grieving for somebody who is still alive, while not knowing what the future holds… is something my parents and I are still trying to navigate. Our lives continue to be on pause while the world keeps turning. We hope for a changed Jack, but OUR JACK, and we have to help him all we can to do this.

For those who don’t personally know my brother his full name is Jack Frederick Carter (known by some family and friends as JC) and he is 17 years old. Jack loves music, his sausage dog Ozzie, family and especially his friends. He is a loving son, a supporting brother and an incredibly loyal friend. Being the ‘typical’ younger brother, Jack would follow whatever new hobby I had taken up but do it 100 times better. Growing up, jack and I would create dance routines for hours just to make my mum laugh, as normally I would be the one holding Jacks leg and throwing him around. We were normally attached at the hip, even if I had my friends round, jack would always be sat with us chatting and involved (until of course I tried to do the same with his). Since a young age jack has always been accident prone, which has involved multiple trips to A&E resulting in both sprains and broken bones (much to my mums dismay).

Jack has never been someone to hide behind a crowd and would always push himself to try something new. Whether that was a new sport,food, game, subject, hairstyle or just mastering the new craze of that year. Though what makes my brother so special is his personality.

Jack is extremely competitive and undeniably driven with everything he sets his mind too. Jack’s goal is to be a doctor, and then qualify as a surgeon. This is something he would remind us of often.

Jack has a calm, laid back approach to life which enables him to speak comfortably to any adult in any situation, whilst possessing the ability to be friends with a wide array of people. My brother has also been blessed with the ability to have great platonic relationships with girls for most of his life (this is obviously down to having an amazing Sister) due to his really sensitive and caring nature. Although Jack has a direct side, with his heart on his sleeve, at least we all know exactly where we stand with him as his friends would agree. An amazing problem solver who cares for his friends deeply.

On the 24th July 2023 my brother met his friends like he typically would most nights in their cars. This particular evening they all had decided instead of taking separate cars that taking one would be a better idea and so, my brother drove. Unfortunately my mum and I were woken up at midnight to police officers explaining that there had been an accident and we had no time to digest the news, as Jack was being airlifted to Bristol in an extremely critical condition. We were blue lighted to Southmead Hospital where my dad met us, as he was working away in Surrey. My brother was kept alive in the air ambulance were they gave him a ‘whole blood’ transfusion, which we learnt after saved Jack’s life. Jack remained in an unstable critical condition for the next 9 days during which the amazing team in the ICU department tried various procedures in order to stabilise my brothers brain pressures. Within those 9 days, jack had also had various surgery’s to the whole of his right side- Jack is now the bionic man.

In order to save jacks life once more, he received further life saving brain surgery on the 2nd August.

Jack has always been, and remains the strongest boy we know, he has absolutely fought his way through this nightmare and continues to fight every single day to come back to us. Jack is currently in a rehab unit that treats and supports traumatic brain Injuries. He receives a combination of therapies and nursing care daily.

The monies raised will go towards the funding of my brothers 24/7 care which currently costs £4,500 per week. The money will also be used to pay for specialised physiotherapy and occupational therapy care in order for Jack to learn to walk, talk and carry out all of the normal day to day things that we take for granted every single day.

My parents and I are so immensely grateful for all the outpouring of love and prayers we have received for Jack over the last 4 months. And to our amazing family and friends who have rallied around us to keep us going. And most importantly… thank you to Jacks friends who were unfortunately in the accident with him, you kept my brother alive and called the emergency services. Without you Jack would not be here. You’re all truly truly amazing and thankyou will never be enough.

If anyone takes anything from my brothers story it would be to please hug and appreciate your family and friends while you still can. You don’t know when circumstances will change and us as humans we need to slow down and realise what we have in-front of us. My brother is the centre piece of my family and we have been lost without him. We love you Jack Jack more than you will ever know. And we will continue to fight for you until the end of time…..

Thank you for taking the time to read Jacks story, any additional monies will go to Dorset and Somerset air ambulance for their incredible work and for keeping my brother alive.