Help Lily Get To London Neuroplasticity Conference

UPDATE: Some sad news - the organisers of the Neuroplasticity Conference in London have advised us that as a result of the coronavirus situation and the travel shut down, the “4th Neurolanguage conference” in London UK, 29th April-1st May 2020, has been canceled. We will continue with the fund raising with the view to enabling Lily to attend the conference next year, 2021. The money that has been raised to date and any further donations will be kept on hold in Lily's fund raising bank account.Lily and her family would like to thank everyone for all of your support to date, it has been absolutely awesome. G’day I’m Lily I am going to London in April 2020 to open the 4th Worldwide Neurolanguage Learning Conference in London. I was hit by a car in 2016 and the injuries I sustained have left me wheelchair bound. I am going over to London to tell my story and to inspire others. Getting to London and the conference comes with high costs, not the least of which includes airfares and carers, accessible accommodation, and hiring of essential equipment for daily living while in London, and I am asking for your assistance in getting me there. Donations received above those needed to meet the costs associated with conference will be directed to Spinal Cord Injuries Australia. This is my story. I was hit by a speeding car on 22 April 2016 whilst crossing a road.  As a result I was in a coma for almost a month and suffered multiple traumatic injuries, the worst of which was a traumatic brain injury (diffuse axonal injury type 3 – DAI 3) and a spinal cord injury (T2 spinal cord transaction with Asia A score at T4 level).  Over the 3 years and 7 months since the accident I have taken on my new world with a vengeance. The prognosis for DAI 3 was not good - over 90% of patients never regain consciousness, and those who are lucky to wake up often remain in a significantly impaired state.  I was one of the lucky (maybe better to say determined) ones.  Apparently my early cognitive assessments post accident indicated a bleak future with little expectation given for me to further my education, but I guess I proved them wrong having just completed Grade 12 and gaining an excellence award in Visual Arts. My spinal cord injury resulted in paraplegia, and this, combined with reduced right arm mobility from the DAI 3, had the professionals painting a future with limited physical independence.  Overtime and with hard work I have gained enough strength and balance to support myself in my wheelchair; push myself when required; move myself around in bed; comb and tie up my hair; and to slide from my bed to my wheelchair (the last of which I was told I would never achieve). To achieve these awesome results, I sought out the assistance and guidance of professionals willing to look outside of the box, practitioners who have taken up the concept of neuroplasticity and who are able to put the theory into practice.  These professionals include the staff at Neuromoves and Lee Campbell at BFIRM. My ultimate goal is to make sure I am in the best possible shape, both mentally and physically, to make use of new surgical/medical/mechanical opportunities to get me back walking.  With the focused research and new technologies being developed, this day will come, and I will be ready to grab it with both hands.