Spinal Cord Injury (Tetraplegic) - Foxy’s Rehab Fund

Hello all, my name is Kim and I’m raising money to help my husband Foxy, details below…

In the early hours of Tuesday 5th December 2023 I woke up to a notification from Foxy’s Apple Watch to say “crash detected”. Expecting to see Foxy in a dented car I made my way to the area with our eldest daughter and was met with a police cordon.

What happened next was a whirlwind of which I remember every detail vividly!! I was told that Foxy was alive but in a critical condition. We were taken to the hospital by the police and sat in a family room in the emergency department for what seemed like hours.

Eventually a senior Dr came to talk to me and explained that Foxy has sustained serious life threatening and life changing injuries. I was told he had fractures to his C6/C7 vertebrae and that he had lost feeling in his lower body. He had multiple femur fractures to his right leg, right pelvic fracture, a broken left ankle and ligament damage to his right thumb. They were unsure at this point of any brain injuries and were rushing him off for a MRI scan. I got to spend about 15 minutes with him, he was covered in tubes and wires and I honestly didn’t know if I would see him alive again.

Foxy spent just over a week in intensive care where all the machines helped his body to try and recover and keep him alive while he got the rest he needed for the next long and extremely hard part of this journey. We were told he didn’t have any brain injuries and this became very apparent as his sarcasm and wit started showing through!! On occasions Foxy wasn’t sure he had the fight in him, and didn’t want to try for fear of being a burden to his family. Myself, our children, and family never gave up on him and gave him the support and strength to keep fighting!

Foxy spent 10 weeks in Derriford Hospital where the fantastic team gave him all the support and help he needed and kept his fighting spirit up so he could push to get himself better. He had good and bad days but every little improvement was noted, in these 10 weeks Foxy went from barely being able to move to being able to move his arms around and regular tests showed he could feel some minor sensation in his lower body.

On the 12th February 2024 Foxy was transferred to Salisbury Spinal Rehabilitation Unit to begin the long journey ahead. This period of time was difficult for us all as Foxy was so far away but it was a sacrifice to make for him to get the rehabilitation he needed. 4 months working hard and with the fantastic support of the physios and occupational therapy teams and Foxy is now able to wheel himself around in a manual wheelchair for short periods of time. He is feeding himself and managing some self care, his hands are still a work in progress and it is unlikely he will walk again so our whole life is changing in a massive way.

Foxy’s injuries class him as a tetraplegic he is paralysed from the mid chest down. This means the small part of his body which is fully functioning is working overtime to keep everything else going. Fatigue plays a massive part in Foxy’s day to day life now as all the strain is put on his arms and shoulders.

Foxy has been transferred to the PLYM unit at Mount Gould for pre discharge rehabilitation which is amazing for us as all our savings have gone on visiting him in Salisbury over the last four months. As you can imagine every part of our lives has changed.

Foxy is technically classed as homeless as our private rented property is not suitable for a wheelchair so we are waiting on the local housing authority to help us find a new home. Foxy will need plenty of equipment when he comes home, he will be a full time wheelchair user, he will need a full hoisting system to help move him around. Every piece of equipment that we will need comes at a hefty price. And although Foxy is a veteran and we are getting some assistance from the military charities, we will still need to purchase multiple items to just make Foxy’s life easier and help him be as independent as possible.

Foxy will be entitled to one wheelchair provided by wheelchair services which is great but being a full time user he will need approximately three, a normal manual lightweight chair, a power assisted chair for when he get’s tired and an off road chair to be able to get out and enjoy his life. Imagine only having one pair of shoes for every occasion and how much wear and tear they would endure.

Foxy will need a standing machine which is in the region of £8000. This machine is something which should be used at least 3 times a week for 30 mins plus to help stretch his muscles and assist with the muscles spasms which then cause extra issues for Foxy.

There is so much that is needed and this is why we are asking for help to purchase any equipment that will assist Foxy to live a fulfilled life after a spinal injury. He’s only 44 and still has so much life to live.

Our whole future is heading on a path we know nothing about, but together as a family we will keep pushing to help Foxy as much as possible. A new way of living is something we will all need to get used to.

If we are lucky enough to have enough to purchase all we need then any extra money will go towards Foxy’s ongoing Physiotherapy and Hydrotherapy after discharge. Private sessions for these start at approximately £90 a session.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and thank you for any help you can give. Nearly 7 months post injury and we still have a long way to go but we will get there together.

Foxy and Kim

P.S Foxy’s Apple Watch saved his life, without It detecting the crash and phoning the emergency services he would have been left in and out of consciousness in an upside down car for the whole night and wouldn’t have survived. Oh and they are very robust, neither Foxy’s Apple Watch nor IPhone were damaged in the crash, unlike Foxy!!!