Hello,

Our names are Krishna, Rama and Mahesh and we are the kids of Dharmesh & Priti Patel. In September of 2021 our father had to undergo an emergency spinal surgery, a final hope at a pain free life after a debilitating neck injury at work. The surgery itself went well and it felt like our dad had been given a new chance at life again, he could wiggle his toes for the first time in 3 years.

Unfortunately, 5 days post-op he suffered an extremely rare complication in which he bled internally into his spinal canal. The result, was a spinal hematoma that compressed his spinal cord and forced him back into the operating room that very night for yet another emergency surgery to remove the clot. 2 days later our dad awoke in the ICU to be told that he had sustained so much damage to his spinal cord that he was now a quadriplegic and was likely to remain this way forever. The next 5 weeks however were the most daunting days of our lives, because of the severity of the damage, dad's body went into spinal shock and neurogenic shock a function in which your spinal cord shuts down and tries to reboot itself, during this, neither of his 2 neurosurgeons could tell us if he was going to make it through even the next 24 hours. He had a 10% chance of surviving. Dad was also intubated during this because his lungs were not strong enough to clear his airways, sedated because of the pain, and heavily medicated on life supporting drugs that kept his heart beating and blood pumping when the neurogenic shock set in.

After 2 weeks of this his ICU team informed us that he was going to need a Tracheostomy or he would risk esophageal breakdown because of the intubation while still needing oxygen support. A little known fact about quadriplegia when you have a spinal cord injury is that more than just the limbs stop working, on the outside we see the limbs lose their function but rarely do we realize that it includes the internal organs as well, your heart, lungs, diaphragm, bladder bowels and more go with it. So, over the next 5 weeks we watched our dad fight for his life, pushing through several complications including blood infections, DVT's, orthostatic hypotension, autonomic dysreflexia, and very painful spasms all while we hoped and prayed his organs would eventually start to come back, the precipice of his survival.

Bit by bit over those 5 weeks our fighter of a father's heart rate increased, first from 30 to 40, then to 50 and then finally 70. Likewise with his blood pressure, with each passing week he needed less and less medication to artificially raise it, till it was finally within a normal range. Because dad was intubated, then tracheostomied our only method of communicating with him was through a hand drawn alphabet blink chart, at this point we had no idea if he had sustained brain damage, or even remembered who we were, so the next battle was getting his voice back. Determined as ever we pushed for his medical team to start him on oxygen training, and he worked hard at it, first for 1 hour a day, then 5, then 12 and eventually a full 24 hours. This meant that after 8 long weeks we finally heard our dad's voice again and he got his first bite of food that didn't go through a tube in his nose.

Dad went on to spend the next 2 months at the hospital while his condition stabilized till he was finally granted a spot at a spinal cord rehab in North York in January of 2022. While his neurosurgeons warned us our dad was likely never going to walk again his recovery so far had shocked them entirely so rehab was the next step to see what if any mobility, and further organ function would return. Over the next 5 months dad pushed his limits physically and mentally. Our Mom commuted daily from Mississauga to North York to visit him, feed him, help with personal hygiene and remind him to keep pushing. With a constant positive attitude, and a determination to change his situation his right arm started to move slightly so training began to gain some mobility, eventually the right toes started to wiggle, followed by the ankle moving, and finally a left arm shake. Nothing of functional use but a huge step in the right direction.

In May of 2022 dad was informed his bed was needed for another patient and that his options were either to have a home assement to be discharged or be moved to a long term care facility. Our home was automatically disqualified due entry limitations, space and mobility issues due to the home being seperated with a step. Some very kind family of ours with a mainfloor bedroom offered their home for us to bring him home but as with most homes in Mississauga, it did not meet the criteria for him to be discharged without extensive modifications. When June rolled around Dad was moved to a long term care facility and our search continued to find an accessible home to bring him home. Dad was rejected for government assistance because our mother worked in the last tax year and made $300 more per month than the threshold (of $1700/month). We looked into renting but modifying someone else's home was also not an option. After spending months researching, extending all our savings, cashing out investments and RRSP's, applying jointly and viewing dozens of homes, in August 2022 we finally found a home that had the necessary traits to be modified for his use. But, with the interest rates changing almost monthly it meant we no longer qualified for what we had at the start of our search, this meant losing the last funds budgeted for the modifications needed to make the home suitable for our dad.

This brings us to why we're making this Go Fund Me. Our dad has spent the last 11 months in hospitals and care facilities over an hour away from his home and family. We are desperately trying to bring him home and need to make these modifications in order to do that for his care team to approve a discharge, in order to make those modifications we need help. What was once budgeted for these renovations was swallowed up by the bank of Canada interest rate hikes, leaving us short of the funds needed to complete the necessary changes.

The immediate modifications we require are:

- an entry ramp built to the back door

- a double opening entry door to fit the width of his wheelchair

- Internal doorways widened (bedroom, bathroom, hallway) to accommodate his wheelchair

- a wheelchair accessible bathroom and shower

Any additional funds beyond our goal amount will go towards equipment we have to purchase including a commode, mechanical lift, medical supplies and medication

We understand that in these difficult times financial help is not something many can offer, but prayers, friendly phone calls, and visits are ALWAYS appreciated, and help in any form whether that's resources, skills or contacts are also extremely valuable and appreciated.

Thank you for taking the time to read our story,

Krishna, Rama, Mahesh.

With love from our parents,

Priti & Dharmesh.