hi my name is pete maher. on the 29/11/2000 my birthday. i was on my way home from work. i wasn’t supose to work that day but had a call from pinewood products. now sappar wood chips on the goldcoast out the back of maudsland. someone had broken in and made a mess and i took the ph call as i was going on my harley for a birthday ride and then my family was takeing me out for dinner latter on that day. i was on the top of the world if worked really hard after comeing to the gold coast as my wife’s mum. pam was dieing of cancer and had asked us to come and move our family up to the gold coast at the time we had the only grandchildren and she asked could we move up there sò she would get to spend the last 6 months of her life with our children. we thought about it and decided yes we would do it i had broken my back and the sunshine and humidity would be great for my back. well after being there for a few months i decided i could go back to work. so i bought a small excavation busness and started pete maher excavations and earthmoveing over the next few years we prospered and did very well for ourselves. well i went to work packed my bike up and got a bobcat excavator and truck and went and worked all day for pinewood products at the end of the day i gave them the bill and the would usally give me a check. but they had just changed over to putting the money in ur bank account. no worries i told them i’d take the machines home and ride back with the bank details. too easy. i took everything home had a cuppa tea with my wife karyn and took the details back to work. gave the boys my bank details and left to go back home a few of my mates new it was my birthday and had pulled up at the upper comera lodge hotel and had bought me a can of jack danial’s i had drank about half of it wen my wife rang wondering were i was as we were going out for dinner and there was a limo comeing and i was running late. i told her i would leave straight away. i didn’t have another mouth full jumped on my bike said goodbye and headed the few ks home to my place. as i came around the second s bend a truck comeing the other way with the driver drinking a vb stubby he was about 4-5 foot on my side of the rd i had no were to go. i nearly picked my bike up and threw it out of the rd. but it was too late the bike was against the guard rails and as i tried to ride along the guard rail i could feel my left leg break time after time and by the time i thought i was going to ride out of this it was too late i had broken my left leg in 17 places and would spend the next 5 years in a wheel chair to keep my left leg. just as i thought i might ride out of this someone had hit the second last post and put an elbow in it. the front wheel hit this and end for ended the bike and wen i came down my left chest had come down on the last post and punched a hole straight into my left chest and pulled 7-8 nerves that control your hand wrist elbow muscles and left shoulder out of my spinal cord. which meant i had lost total use of this whole left arm and hand. i tried really hard to try and get help. the gold coast hospital told me to go home and within 6-12 months a finger would start working and then another and another then my hand elbow. but this was not to happen. i had insurance and was covered but i couldn’t come good. and the terrible pain would and has not stopped. i have been suffering know for 26 years. how im still here i dont know my wife has dies from cancer and my kids have grow up i kept myself around in case they needed me. i have left the goldcoast as i was fully covered by insurance but my insurance company australian casualty and life was sold out and the new insurance found a descrepancy in the origanal policy and pulled my insurance which was for the rest of my life. im at the end of knowing wat to do im hopeing that i can get some sort of spinal transfer pump to stop this terrible pain i’ve heard these stimulators can change this terrible debilitating pain down to a tingling sensation but there pretty exspencive up to and over 100,000 dollers. i dont know what to do as im totaly lost this is mainly a bikers injury high speed skiers also get it. my sister and myself moved down to the riverina were our family comes from origanal. our dad passed away from liver cancer last christmas and we had moved back here to spend as much time as possible with our dad. i can live another 30 years but i can’t live in this horrible pain i’ve lost my left arm but suffer from this agonising pain. the only way i’m going to be able to survive is with ur help. im begging if there’s anyone that can help me to fundraiser for a spinal stimulator sò i can spend the last years of my life with some quality of life please please if you can help me. please if you are a surgeon who could donate there operating time or if there’s a doctor out there that knows of the dre’s operation were they can burn the nurves out of my spine sò the pain stops. please if anyone can help me please i need some help i’ve lived like this for many years i’ve gone back to work but the pain is just to hard. can someone please help me and my family