<div><strong>*PLEASE TAKE 5 MINS OF YOUR TIME TO READ MY STORY, HELP AND SHARE THIS AS FAR AND WIDE POSSIBLE FOR ME – HOPE FOR MIKE TO WALK AGAIN*</strong>
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<div>Hi, my name is Mike. I'm reaching out to all my family, friends, work colleagues, kind strangers, associated organisations and anyone who can help me — in the hope of raising funds for a ground breaking spinal procedure abroad that could change my life back to what it was a year ago. It may give me the chance to walk again. The amount of money I'm seeking help for is eye watering I know but the actual cost of the procedures are well in excess so every single penny donated will be a massive Help!! I'm not looking for the sympathy vote / violins out Jesus No....but merely to get my story out there to make people aware of the tragic circumstances the lack of timely care has caused my life!!
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<div><strong>My Story in brief</strong>
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<div>In May 2024, I went to bed a fit and healthy individual. The next morning, I woke up unable to walk freely — my legs just wouldn’t bear my own weight. In a terrifying turn of events, I was rushed to hospital, where I was tragically left on a hospital stretcher for over 30 hours in a corridor without any treatment. What was later diagnosed as a 10-inch epidural abscess on my spinal cord was left to worsen, resulting in complete paralysis from the chest down for the rest of my life. No car or bike accident, not a sporting injury just a freak acute rare abscess that developed very quickly.
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<div>By the time I was transferred to a neurological specialist hospital in Liverpool, it was too late. Despite emergency surgery for 4 hours, the damage to my spinal cord was irreversible and its now left me in a state of total dependency on others — unable to move freely, work, drive, do the very simple daily things in life or even play with my young son normally has understandably left me and my family absolutely devastated. I underwent what's termed as a T7 laminectomy operation) which meant cutting my back open and removing a large part of my spine (C4 to T5) to get access to the large abscess on my spinal cord, unfortunately the damage was already done and my life changed forever.
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<div><strong>Life Now</strong>
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<div>After several painful months in hospital dealing with my paralysis, fighting infections, battling pressure sores from improper care, and enduring constant pain, I’m now at home — in a hospital bed, downstairs, needing two full-time carers. Every day is a mental and physical battle where I'm left pondering a future of fear and unknowns, this is no way easy way to exist for any human being, that said, I hold on daily to a small amount of hope that this will not be forever, sadly the reality of it all is that it will be forever without this pioneering medical operation abroad. This really isn't the life I imagined at the age of 46. I was an outgoing, independent man who loved the outdoors, cars, gym, football, gardening staying fit and just doing the everyday things we all enjoy and take for granted. Now I’m a prisoner in my own home, severely depressed and mental health at its absolute lowest, Some days I even question if I can keep going — it’s that hard, the thought of ending it on a daily basis is a very dark hole to be in especially when every day is already a massive struggle where I just sit in my wheelchair pondering, wishing the day away as a recluse in my home, loss of any focus, feeling lost and alone its a horrible way to have to spend my days. I don't want to feel this way for the rest of my life. Now 25kg lighter in body weight having lost all my muscle mass over the last 12 months, legs stick thin and generally no longer in good shape, I'm hoping this will fund raiser will be the start of something special for me and my life moving forward.
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<div><strong>My Motivation</strong>
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<div>My 3-year-old son, Harley, is my everything. I want to be the Dad he deserves and a fully able one as I had always envisioned — not the one who can only watch from a wheelchair - its heart breaking. I want him to remember me playing with him, teaching him, holding his hand and chasing him in the park. Not just as his ‘disabled Dad.’
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<div>......but I haven’t given up hope on my life reverting back to some normality so I can do all these things!!!
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<div>✨<strong> The Opportunity</strong>
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<div>Through extensive medical company research and countless Zoom meeting set backs over the last couple of months, I’ve finally found a medical team abroad that offers real hope. This pioneering spinal procedure has already helped patients from around the world to:
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<div>*Regain limb movement
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<div>*Improve motor, sensory, and sexual functions
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<div>*Reduce neuropathic pain
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<div>*Rebuild independence and mobility
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<div>*Reduction of the body spasms I live with daily that are uncomfortable and make certain movements more difficult
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<div>*Improved bladder and bowel control
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<div>Backed by science and success stories, this could be my second chance at a normal life. But it’s very expensive, and the NHS doesn’t fund or even administer this type of treatment so I am reaching out for help. The procedure would see the surgical team implanting and attaching a medical device onto my spinal cord that would then bridge the damaged area of my cord allowing signals to again be sent from my brain to the lower parts of my body that I've lost, this would then be followed by some stem cell treatment post op to aid the cords therapy, it really is a ground breaking medical procedure and as it stands the only one available that can maybe help me get back on my feet in some way shape or form.
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<div>UPDATE - We are now 14 months on since this happened and im now at a rehabilitation centre which is supposed to be the best in the region....im now 5 weeks into the course and they class 1 hour a day with a physio as 'rehabilitation', this is all im doing the rest of the day I have to occupy myself, to make things even worse and add more pain to the pot....one of the physios has cracked my lower thigh bone quire badly during a class which has now rendered me unable to partake in rehabilitation and need to ride it out until the plaster comes off and I no longer need to use a wheelchair with my leg in a support!!!! This they expect to take 6 to 8 weeks so im essentially now an A and E inpatient and a prisoner in the hospital as dont have the equipment at home needed daily for me. What should have been a 4 to 6 week programme is now likely going to be 5 to 6 months here minimum...so more pain and anguish. Constantly being let down by the NHS has beaten me to the ground with nothing left to give.
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<div>This is why I’m asking for your help. Any donation, big or small, will bring me closer to the life I lost and miss dearly — and the future I dream of for my son and me.
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<div><strong>*How You Can Help</strong>
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<div><strong>*PLEASE DONATE IF YOU CAN...</strong>
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<div>✅ Please Donate — every pound makes a HUGE difference
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<div>✅ Share this page on Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, LinkedIn — anywhere you can
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<div>✅ Reach out if you know of any specialists, support, or charities that could help my cause
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<div>From the bottom of my heart — thank you for reading, for sharing, and for giving me a fighting chance.
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<div>With love and hope,
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<div>Mike C
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PLEASE HELP MICHAEL TO WALK AGAIN - EPIDURAL SPINAL SURGERY

PLEASE HELP MICHAEL TO WALK AGAIN - EPIDURAL SPINAL SURGERY

Still £128,200 to go. Help us build momentum.