Fragile mortality

My brother ended up in a hospital one day, only to wake up being paralysed from the neck down the next day.

Only with a bit of shoulder/back pain over the weekend, he woke up Monday morning saying he can barely walk. It looked like his knees were giving in, making his walk very bizarre.

After I called the ambulance, he was brought to the hospital, few tests were done, and he was informed he had a spinal cord abscess and needed surgery straight away.

Spinal cord abscess is a very rare condition.

First surgery due to severe condition- left him paralysed. He was due the second surgery on his neck (metal bars to be put in to stabilise the neck, as, during the first surgery, some bones were removed)

Between those two surgeries, he was still fighting an infection-which source was impossible to find.

It took only a few days for the infection to leave my brother unable to breathe independently.

If there was not enough thrown at him-he was intubated, and a tracheotomy was performed shortly after.

At the moment, he is learning how to breathe and speak again, which takes a lot of effort, energy and willpower.

As you can see, the road ahead of him is a long and difficult one.

All our family live abroad.

Me and my husband will do everything in our power to help my brother.

We drive 200km each day to see him, support him and ensure he keeps fighting. We Make sure his mental approach stays strong and positive.

Without him being out of the hospital, we can already realise how significant financial impact his situation will have on our lives.

Little savings of our own disappears very quickly of such trivial thing as day-to-day expenses: petrol, parking fees, motorway fees and of course plenty of chocolates for excellent nursing staff :-)

Me and my husband are more than happy to take care of my brother. I just can’t imagine sending him to an institution.

We would need to collect money for a physiotherapy wheelchair/reclinable chair.

We are looking to convert our downstairs living room into his bedroom and toilet into a shower room. We want to make sure when he is ready to be discharged and move in with us; it will be all ready and accessible for him

At the moment, we have two scenarios: positive one -in which he will regain some power in his arms and will be able to move in the wheelchair. Second one-less positive, where he will be bound to the bed.

I’m a believer. If I could, I would swap places with him in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, I don’t have such power. He is a strong young man who can achieve anything. He wears his heart on a sleeve and never refuses to help others. He would make you laugh so hard you wouldn’t be able to catch a breath. My brother already went through so much in such a short period of time, which only makes me believe more that he has what is needed to win that battle.

Here I'm, asking for a donation, no matter how small- it will all make a huge difference!

Thank you so much for your dedicated time to read that post and for any donations you make.

Please, watch a short video which I made of my brother, to give you a glimpse of what kind of a person he is!