Help Lee rebuild his life

My name is Jessica Rodgers, Lee Rodgers is my rock and my dad. On the day of 31st July 2021, mine and my families lives were immediately turned upside down and changed forever. 

A little bit of background on my dad: He was my mums full time carer as my mum has a rare condition which only effect 1 in 45,00 people which means she needs support and care with her day to day life as it effects her mobility, neck and nerves. My dad played a massive role in the household and would cook, clean, do the food shopping, collect prescriptions, take my mum to hospital and so much more. He is the rock of the family and keeps us all together and strong. He is a man so full of laughter and banter and you would be able to hear him laugh from the end of the street. My dads biggest hobby is socialising with his friends who live around the world on his computer whilst playing his favourite game World of Warcraft. Nothing could beat his Saturday nights playing his game with his friends and having a few laughs. 

On the night of the 31st of July, this all massively changed. One small accident and one split second and our whole lives have been changed forever. 

The 31st of July was my brothers Fiancé's hen do. My dad was due to be the best man at this wedding and even had a matching suit with my brother.. this was such an exciting time for us all. We hosted a small party at my mums where we decorated the house all beautiful ready to surprise the bride to be. It was such a perfect night so full of laughter and happiness. As the night ended, my dad came down the stairs to say goodbye to everyone and in a split second as he was approaching the last 7 steps he slipped. This is when everything changed forever. He slipped down the last couple of steps and had a hard impact fall. He hit into the radiator once he reached the bottom of the stairs. He was led at the bottom of the stairs, so still. He concerningly told us that he could not feel anything in his body, including his arms, feet, hands and legs. His face was so pale, his breathing was slowing down, and he was turning grey in the face. All I can remember in this moment was scared feeling that we may loose him. My whole family were with him and did not leave his side. An ambulance was immediately called and they even were going to try and air lift him due to the serve injury he had sustained. It took around an hour to be able to get him out of the house and into the ambulance due to the angle he was at, at the bottom of the stairs. The ambulance rushed him straight to Southampton General Hospital. I went with my dad to the hospital and stayed with him all night in the relative room. He was in the resus unit for most of the night and this was were a nurse came and sat with me to explain what has happening. This is where they informed me that he has sustained very serious injury to his neck and spine and that he is currently in the danger zone. No one wishes to hear this about one of the people they love the most. Early that morning, my dad was moved into the Neuroscience ICU. Due to all of this, my dad was unfortunately unable to attend my brothers wedding. 

As a result of the fall, my dad has sustained a serious neck and spine injury which has resulted in him being currently paralysed with no feeling from his shoulders down. He also broke his ribs due to the impact of the floor/radiator. He had to have emergency surgery to prevent further damage to his spinal cord. At this time he was still in the "danger zone". As you can imagine, we were all so worried but so so grateful that my dad is still with us, he has always been a trooper! This has without a doubt had a huge impact upon me and my family, we are such a close family and now we are stronger and have had to come together and look after each other more than ever. We have had to all help with the contribution to caring for my mum.

When the time finally comes for my dad to come home, we will need to have house modifications or they may need to move house. My dad will need care as will my mum, to help them lead an independent life. We do not want this accident to affect his future, we know it is going to be a long and difficult road to recovery but he will beat the odds as many others have done so before him. My dad and family would never ask for help , but my dad found courage to agree for us to make this page for him. He is so brave and is fighting with everything he has. We are hoping the future is bright because as a family the only thing getting us through this time of disbelief is hope. We are all so hopeful. Being able to visit my dad and seeing the smile on his face really is amazing. He is so tough but we learn and adapt.

 

We have created this page as we are hoping that we can help my dad and mum with keeping that feeling of independence as husband and wife. We are looking to buy my dad an adaptation for his computer which will allow him to play his games and socialise by using his mouth rather than using his hands. We don’t want him to feel like his whole life has been put on hold due to this accident so we are going to try all we can to ensure he can do what he loves. Having this piece of equipment, he will be able to play with his friends who live all over the world and enjoy that big part of his life still with no barriers. 

 So incredibly proud with how well he is doing! What an absolute trooper❤️

Thank you so much for reading my story.