Officer Down. Tim needs assistance!
Donation protected
I'm a Police Officer asking for your help because I was seriously injured by a prisoner and I now need further spinal surgery that is only available privately.
Without the surgery, I won't be able to continue as a Police Officer and I won't be able to play a physically active part in my 8 months old son's upbringing ... and I desperately need to be able to be a father to my little man.
The surgery will cost me a minimum of £10K and possibly even £20K if a 2nd procedure is required. I just don't have that kind of money and I am really struggling to find it.
Because of my injury I don't even know if I'll still have a job in 6 months.
The irony of the situation is that the individual who did this to me was never convicted and is now out and about with absolutely no consequences. I, however, have spent the last 4 years in chronic pain.
My full story is:
I have been a police officer for 26 years and up until 4 years ago I'd never had a truly serious injury. However, that all changed one Saturday morning whilst on duty and dealing with a suspect in custody.
Just like 100's of times before, the custody alarm sounded and as I ran towards the cells, I expected to be waved away by an embarrassed custody officer, explaining that it was a false alarm.
However, I was met by a panicked detention officer, in tears.
As I looked past her I saw a couple of my colleagues were trying to restrain a violent prisoner and another colleague was unconscious on the floor in a pool of his own blood.
The prisoner was a big, fit, lad who was not only very strong but also had the added strength only found in those who are in the midst of a full-blown mental health episode.
I ran into the melee to help with his restraint and in return I was flung about until back-up eventually arrived.
The prisoner was eventually subdued and returned to his cell and two of my colleagues were taken to hospital, one with a suspected broken jaw and the other with concussion.
At the time I felt battered and bruised, but I brushed myself down thinking little of it.
Hey, just another day at the office, isn't it?
However, after a couple of weeks of continued pain, I started to worry that I had really hurt myself. I was getting strange sensations in my legs and I just knew that something wasn't right.
Fast forward six months and I ended up on the operating table, with the words the consultant surgeon used running through my mind,
"You're not leaving my office until you agree to surgery ...
YOU'RE ONE TWIST OR TURN FROM BEING PERMANENTLY PARALYSED".
What I didn't know was that during the struggle I'd actually seriously damaged a disc in my lower back resulting in what my consultant described as a "massive bi-lateral prolapse".
Despite the fact that the surgery seemed to have worked and the fact that I had slowly worked towards regaining my physical fitness, when I went to take my work related fitness test, approximately a year after the surgery, my legs refused to work properly. I couldn't run in a straight line and I was stumbling around like a drunk.
Before I knew it I was back in the hospital and having the same surgery on the disc that had originally been damaged and which had now prolapsed again.
Alas, that surgery has also failed.
Of course this has been tough physically, but it has also been tough mentally.
Not only am I in constant chronic pain, but I'm also losing sensation below my waist line (the level of the damaged disc) due to nerves damaged by the damaged disc.
This has led to clinical depression and it's been difficult to remain positive due to the impact this has had upon my life.
I've been on long-term restricted duties since and whilst my colleagues are being run ragged, I sit on my backside and drive a desk.
I feel useless!!!
The NHS can't offer me anymore help other than to 'manage my symptoms', which means that I am left feeling like a zombie each day on a cocktail of painkillers which sometimes lessen the pain, but never remove it.
What really is a kick in the teeth is that the prisoner responsible was never prosecuted for any of the injuries he inflicted due to his mental health condition, and he is now back out on the streets still causing chaos !!!
In December last year (2017) my wife and I were blessed with a beautiful baby boy. He has become my complete focus, but as he has grown and become more mobile, it has become clear that my injury will not allow me to carry out the most basic of fatherly duties.
I now struggle to hold or carry him, to place him in or remove him from his cot, bathe him or play with him for any length of time. I hate to think what will happen as he grows up whilst my condition inevitably deteriorates.
I just want to be able to play with him, be able to kick a ball around with him, protect him and do the kinds of things that most dads take for granted.
I know I won't be able to do that and that there is a good chance that I will require a wheelchair by the time he is in primary school.
However, I do have a ray of light.
A friend who was in a similar medical position recommended that I speak to a consultant who turned her life around. Mr Martin Knight.
Mr Knight is a pioneering surgeon from the Spinal Foundation.
Following a number of consultations, MRIs, etc, it is his professional opinion that a procedure called Minor Intrusive Spinal Surgery could massively reduce the pain I am in and potentially return me to full fitness.
This procedure is not available on the NHS.
There's a very good chance of the procedure releasing the nerves that are currently tethered to my lumbar discs.
The downside is that this will cost approximately £10K per procedure and this is why I need your help.
We hope that only one procedure will be required, although there is a distinct possibility that it will have to be two.
I've been in the Police Service for 26 years facing times both good and bad.
I am devastated to be in a position where my colleagues are facing horrific challenges on the streets and I am unable to work alongside them.
If I can get this surgery, there is a good chance that I can once again become fully operational.
And of course, I absolutely want to be a father to my beautiful son, playing a full and ACTIVE part in his growth and development.
I can only beg for your help, and although I know that some of you may not even know me, you DO KNOW the 'job' and how the thin blue line binds us all together.
Without the surgery, I won't be able to continue as a Police Officer and I won't be able to play a physically active part in my 8 months old son's upbringing ... and I desperately need to be able to be a father to my little man.
The surgery will cost me a minimum of £10K and possibly even £20K if a 2nd procedure is required. I just don't have that kind of money and I am really struggling to find it.
Because of my injury I don't even know if I'll still have a job in 6 months.
The irony of the situation is that the individual who did this to me was never convicted and is now out and about with absolutely no consequences. I, however, have spent the last 4 years in chronic pain.
My full story is:
I have been a police officer for 26 years and up until 4 years ago I'd never had a truly serious injury. However, that all changed one Saturday morning whilst on duty and dealing with a suspect in custody.
Just like 100's of times before, the custody alarm sounded and as I ran towards the cells, I expected to be waved away by an embarrassed custody officer, explaining that it was a false alarm.
However, I was met by a panicked detention officer, in tears.
As I looked past her I saw a couple of my colleagues were trying to restrain a violent prisoner and another colleague was unconscious on the floor in a pool of his own blood.
The prisoner was a big, fit, lad who was not only very strong but also had the added strength only found in those who are in the midst of a full-blown mental health episode.
I ran into the melee to help with his restraint and in return I was flung about until back-up eventually arrived.
The prisoner was eventually subdued and returned to his cell and two of my colleagues were taken to hospital, one with a suspected broken jaw and the other with concussion.
At the time I felt battered and bruised, but I brushed myself down thinking little of it.
Hey, just another day at the office, isn't it?
However, after a couple of weeks of continued pain, I started to worry that I had really hurt myself. I was getting strange sensations in my legs and I just knew that something wasn't right.
Fast forward six months and I ended up on the operating table, with the words the consultant surgeon used running through my mind,
"You're not leaving my office until you agree to surgery ...
YOU'RE ONE TWIST OR TURN FROM BEING PERMANENTLY PARALYSED".
What I didn't know was that during the struggle I'd actually seriously damaged a disc in my lower back resulting in what my consultant described as a "massive bi-lateral prolapse".
Despite the fact that the surgery seemed to have worked and the fact that I had slowly worked towards regaining my physical fitness, when I went to take my work related fitness test, approximately a year after the surgery, my legs refused to work properly. I couldn't run in a straight line and I was stumbling around like a drunk.
Before I knew it I was back in the hospital and having the same surgery on the disc that had originally been damaged and which had now prolapsed again.
Alas, that surgery has also failed.
Of course this has been tough physically, but it has also been tough mentally.
Not only am I in constant chronic pain, but I'm also losing sensation below my waist line (the level of the damaged disc) due to nerves damaged by the damaged disc.
This has led to clinical depression and it's been difficult to remain positive due to the impact this has had upon my life.
I've been on long-term restricted duties since and whilst my colleagues are being run ragged, I sit on my backside and drive a desk.
I feel useless!!!
The NHS can't offer me anymore help other than to 'manage my symptoms', which means that I am left feeling like a zombie each day on a cocktail of painkillers which sometimes lessen the pain, but never remove it.
What really is a kick in the teeth is that the prisoner responsible was never prosecuted for any of the injuries he inflicted due to his mental health condition, and he is now back out on the streets still causing chaos !!!
In December last year (2017) my wife and I were blessed with a beautiful baby boy. He has become my complete focus, but as he has grown and become more mobile, it has become clear that my injury will not allow me to carry out the most basic of fatherly duties.
I now struggle to hold or carry him, to place him in or remove him from his cot, bathe him or play with him for any length of time. I hate to think what will happen as he grows up whilst my condition inevitably deteriorates.
I just want to be able to play with him, be able to kick a ball around with him, protect him and do the kinds of things that most dads take for granted.
I know I won't be able to do that and that there is a good chance that I will require a wheelchair by the time he is in primary school.
However, I do have a ray of light.
A friend who was in a similar medical position recommended that I speak to a consultant who turned her life around. Mr Martin Knight.
Mr Knight is a pioneering surgeon from the Spinal Foundation.
Following a number of consultations, MRIs, etc, it is his professional opinion that a procedure called Minor Intrusive Spinal Surgery could massively reduce the pain I am in and potentially return me to full fitness.
This procedure is not available on the NHS.
There's a very good chance of the procedure releasing the nerves that are currently tethered to my lumbar discs.
The downside is that this will cost approximately £10K per procedure and this is why I need your help.
We hope that only one procedure will be required, although there is a distinct possibility that it will have to be two.
I've been in the Police Service for 26 years facing times both good and bad.
I am devastated to be in a position where my colleagues are facing horrific challenges on the streets and I am unable to work alongside them.
If I can get this surgery, there is a good chance that I can once again become fully operational.
And of course, I absolutely want to be a father to my beautiful son, playing a full and ACTIVE part in his growth and development.
I can only beg for your help, and although I know that some of you may not even know me, you DO KNOW the 'job' and how the thin blue line binds us all together.
Organizer
Tim Dobisz
Organizer
England
