Aarons Spinal Rehabilitation and Recovery

As some of you may be aware on the morning of Thursday 1st June 2023 after leaving the house to head off on his regular route to work, Aaron had a devastating and life changing motorbike accident.

Aaron is an experienced rider and a stickler for wearing full protective clothing no matter what the weather and had never had any issues on the road before. Unfortunately, that morning was different and on a sweeping right hand bend on his usual route and less than a minute from his place of work, Aaron was involved in a devastatingly life changing accident. It was only a few months earlier that due to the rising cost of living and ever-increasing fuel prices, Deb and Aaron had made the decision to sell their family car and replace it with a smaller cheaper car for Deb to run around in and do her errands with the children and for Aaron to purchase a motorbike to get to work and back.

Our understanding from the dash cam footage viewed by the police at the scene is that for some reason as he negotiated the right hand bend the rear of Aaron’s bike went from under him causing him to lose control sending Aaron and the bike sliding down along the road with him still on the bike until both Aaron and the bike hit the curb. Aaron was then thrown from the bike onto the grass verge and into and along the overgrowth and vegetation at the side of the carriageway, the bike continued flipping along the verge before coming to rest in pieces some fifty yards away. We were told other motorists immediately jumped out of their vehicles to help and had found Aaron in a ditch, semi-conscious and unable to move. Aaron was stabilised at the scene by medics and taken by air ambulance to University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire. A doctor flew with him due to the severity of his injuries. Nobody else was involved in the incident, according to Police it was purely just an unfortunate accident and nothing else.

Aaron underwent two immediate virtually back-to-back lengthy, life and limb saving operations, going into Cardiac Arrest during the first operation. It was only due to the speed of the nursing staff in the operating theatre in resuscitating Aaron so quickly that prevented him from receiving any brain damage. Aaron suffered multiple breaks to his legs and ribs, damage to his lungs and most devastatingly a break to his spine at the neck, causing severe damage to his spinal cord at C6. This has left Aaron with no feeling from the chest down, limited movement in his arms, hands and fingers and the likelihood is that Aaron will never walk again.

https://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/local-news/biker-rushed-hospital-after-early-27033199

Aaron spent 4 weeks in the intensive care unit where he was on 24-hour care. During that time the doctors attempted to take him off ventilation multiple times but due to his injuries he was struggling to breathe unassisted and needed to be put straight back on which meant that Aaron would have to be sedated again to do this. Aaron could not talk with the tubes and the only way to communicate with him was by getting him to blink for yes and no and lip read which was extremely difficult and frustrating for all with a tube in the way. Aaron has very little memory of the accident or the day he was first taken into hospital and it was very traumatic for him waking up in hospital and not being able to move or talk. He was not allowed fluids in case any went down the wrong way and caused an infection so the most the doctors could do to relieve thirst was to wipe a wet gauze around the inside of his mouth. He had to be constantly monitored and have observations done, his blood pressure was seriously low and the pain in his neck was getting worse the more conscious he was becoming.

After a few weeks the decision was made to perform a tracheostomy so that Aaron could be slowly weaned off the ventilation and the risks of infection were getting high with how long Aaron had to have the ventilation tubes through his mouth. Aaron received physiotherapy twice a day to stretch out his hands and arms once the swelling had gone down in them and another tube would be inserted into his mouth and then trachea tubes to make him cough to clear his chest. Aaron was to stay on his back for 8 weeks to give his spine time to heal but needed constant log rolls throughout the day and night to reduce the chances of pressure wounds as spinal cord injury patients have a high risk of developing pressure wounds.

Once the tracheostomy was done the Doctors could connect a valve to the tube so that Aaron could speak through it but best of all Aaron was allowed to munch on ice cubes and before he left critical care some of the nurses pushed his bed outside to get some fresh air for the first time.

Aaron was able to be slowly weaned off the ventilation and have his tracheostomy tubes removed and when he was able to breathe independently Aaron was moved onto the extended care unit in the trauma ward. Aaron was able to start eating pureed food but due to not being able to move his hands he needed assistance with this and it was not easy being fed led down. After a few weeks his vocal cords gradually came back and he was able to speak normally again. Aaron was able to move both of his arms much more by this point and was getting some movement back in his fingers in his right hand but not enough to grasp anything.

After 6 weeks he was allowed to have the bed tilted gradually which enabled him to be able to drink more and start eating solid foods. He was then moved to the neurosurgical ward at week 8 where he was able to have the bed tilted fully so he could sit upright. From there Aaron was able to be put onto a tilt table. This came with blood pressure complications but Aaron was determined and got there. Once he was able to do that, he was able to be hoisted into a wheelchair so we could take him outside into the garden at the hospital for a little bit where he could spend more time with his children. Aaron unfortunately caught two infections whilst being in hospital and the second could have been avoided had procedures been followed correctly but the staff took great care after this to make sure that did not happen again, despite this the nurses and doctors at UHCW were amazing and as were the physios who he always had a laugh and a joke with,

After 11 weeks at university hospital Coventry and Warwickshire Aaron was moved to the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt orthopaedic hospital in Oswestry on the 17th August where he currently still resides to do his rehabilitation which will include building his strength in his upper limbs and teaching him how to live with a spinal cord injury and in a wheelchair. Aaron's injury level is currently classed as a C6 Complete Tetraplegic.

Aaron, Deb and their 2 children moved to Leamington Spa in January 2021 away from their friends and families to be closer to the motor trade industry for Aaron's work after Aaron faced his 4th redundancy.

Aaron’s accident has devastated Deb and their children Millie (10) and Oliver (3) but they are remaining positive and just thankful they still have him. Aaron has always been a hard-working hands-on dad and he is determined to adapt himself to his new world but the thought of not being there for his children is torture. However, this has become Aaron’s motivation, he has been absolutely amazing in working extremely hard on his recovery and rehabilitation putting in extra sessions wherever he can with the physios, trying to regain whatever strength he can to be the best he can be with his disabilities. Unfortunately, spinal cord injury at a high level comes paired with Autonomic Dysreflexia too which is an abnormal overreaction of the autonomic nervous system. It is a serious condition that can be fatal.

Aaron and Deb would like to thank all their family and friends for the help and support and thank you to the people who have visited Aaron; family and friends, old and new. You've kept a smile on his face these last 5 and a half months. It's been an emotional roller coaster for everyone especially Aarons family and this is why nothing has been shared over social media until now, we could not have done it without you all and we will keep you updated on Aaron progress. It’s not been easy and Aaron has had to deal with a lot mentally on top of infections and low blood pressure.

Aaron is determined to get back into the working world but in the meantime the road to recovery will not be easy and unfortunately will not be cheap. This is why we have set up this funding page, to give Aaron every opportunity to recover as best he can. This will involve specialised wheelchairs, home adaptations, possible extra rehabilitation away from a struggling nhs (but this may prove too costly) and specialised equipment to help Aaron continue strength building at home.