My wife and I have two adult daughters of whom we are very proud. But something occurred which worried us to the point of despair. Our eldest daughter suffered a misfortune that none of us could have planned for and which threw our family into chaos. We have never asked for anyone’s help in our lives before, but we are hoping that others will hear this and offer us an opportunity to prevent a catastrophic situation from getting even worse.

Our eldest daughter, Jayne (not her real name), suffered two burst aneurysms in her head in November 2023, accompanied by a massive stroke. She was rushed to hospital, where her husband was told there was little hope for her, but nevertheless, an immediate operation was arranged and her life was saved, but it was touch and go as to whether she would survive, and if she did, whether she would be paralysed for life and unable to speak.

Jayne finally emerged from a coma a month later, still attached to a lot of scary machinery that was keeping her alive. Each time a machine alert went off, one or more nurses jumped up and did what was necessary to keep Jayne’s health from deteriorating. Her blood pressure was all over the place and the clinical staff were having to make adjustments to her medications on a regular basis.

In time, we noticed that she had started to move the fingers of her left hand and the toes on her left feet, and gradually, she was able even to lift her left arm. But there was no movement on her right side at all, and her family was starting to wonder if the consultants’ fears were proving to be true. Then, one day, she managed to close her right hand around the hand of her son, and very gradually, she started to regain movement throughout the right side of her body. Her eyes were now open, and although stary at first, she was soon able to focus on her visitors.

Over the next few weeks, Jayne was taken off the machines and was out of intensive care. Despite making slow progress, Jayne was unable to engage her voice box and tried to speak in faint whispers, but no-one could understand what she was saying. She had severe fatigue and was often asleep through whole visits of her family, who were seeing her on a daily basis.

Fast forward a year, and Jayne was nearing the end of a year of specialist rehabilitation. Her functionality continued to improve, and we could see our daughter at last coming back to us. She had regained the use of her voice box, but she still struggled to form the words she wanted to say. Her memory was clearly intact - she laughed about the funny events of the past and was able to work out ways to help herself communicate. The sight out of her left eye had just been regained, but it was not yet focussing properly - her right eye appeared to be the one she used most. She was able to eat and drink at this stage and helped to wash herself while in the shower. She started to walk again with someone holding her hand and she had even started to climb the stairs.

The surgeon who operated on Jayne was amazed at the amount of recovery that had taken place considering the damage to her brain, but from the constant pessimism that was heard from medical staff in the early days, two doctors and the registrar who was assisting during her life saving operation had now commented that they saw no reason why Jayne could not go back to a normal life.

It is now almost two years since her stroke, and Jayne is recovering well. She is back home at last, and the single words she was able to speak have now become sentences, although she still has difficulty with pronunciation of some words. We are working on that, and she makes progress every day. A month ago, she couldn’t even hold a pen, but now she is learning to write again, and it’s coming back quickly.

However, with the length of time it is taking for Jayne to recover, her husband is concerned that their money will run out soon. If he sells the house and pays off the mortgage, there will be little left over for a replacement property and the family now face the scary prospect of homelessness. Her husband is at his wits end, trying to work out how to keep his family together and keep a roof over their heads. The children have been through so much trauma already, to become homeless would be devastating for them.

Jayne is so close to full recovery, but she still needs to regain full use of her speech, recover from aphasia and improve her vision. It is such a shame that all she has worked for over the years stands to be lost before she can start to earn money again. She is desperate to get back to work – she just needs more time.

In desperation, we are asking for help to ensure that her family survive this devastating crisis and are able to stay in their home. If the money cannot be found, the family face foreclosure within months, which seems so unfair when Jayne has put everything into doing the best for her family and others over the years.

If you are able to assist them - even with a small donation - this will help so much. We hope that this story will touch the hearts of many more people and ensure that we can keep this family together. What happened to them can happen to any family, at any time, which make the circumstances of this event relatable to us all.

Thank you for taking the time to read our story. If you can help us to emerge from this nightmare, we would all be so grateful.