Chris's Bespoke Wheelchair; 'Fly Me To The Moon'!!

A Bespoke Wheelchair, for a dear ole' Daddy.. 

Hello,

I am Georgia, Chris Francis’s daughter. I feel I can confidently speak for many when I say our Dad is one of the most inspiring and adventurous spirits many of us have had the pleasure to know. His life came to change quickly, throughout which he has bravely negotiated a steep descent from the man he once was.

He now finds himself in a bit of a pickle, hence why we are reaching out to you now for some much-needed help. Dad's life as a gregarious and fun loving action man is now seemingly over, he is struggling to cope with an isolated and severely disabled lifestyle due to an onslaught of strokes and an immune disorder called uveitis; the compaction of these illnesses has left him permanently blind, trapped in paralysis of the left side of his body and without a true voice.

It is always hard to ask for help, especially in these times where so many are in need of extra compassion and support, despite this we would like to share his story in the hopes to pour some life back into his spirit and bring joy to others as well.. more on that later.. 


Dad started out with a means to explore, hitchhiking around Europe at 16 for many an adventure, only to come home and start parachuting aged 18, 1973. This wet his appetite for more, so when he returned unable to settle he travelled to Cornwall and signed on as crew on a Cornish fishing boat operating out of Falmouth and built up his affinity with the sea. By the time he was 20 he was a trained parachute instructor, after two years Dad got itchy wings and decided to change course. As his main interest was sport he tried and succeeded to join the RAF as a physical training instructor. He eventually became an RAF parachuting instructor, in a career during which he amassed 6000 jumps all over the world.

On retirement from the RAF, in 1987 he worked for a while teaching skydiving in Ireland and Spain. Then trekking around India and Nepal, taking five young people with him as a part of a charity initiative to share and experience Asia with those    who could otherwise not have afforded it.
 
Later he was offered a job in the sultanate of Oman, selecting and training a parachute display team for five years. However, due to my imminent birth, he came home to watch me pop out! On return, once again he changed his career path and joined the Metropolitan Police in which he served for five years. He was retired from the Met because of an injury received on duty and it was at this time that it became apparent that his eyesight was failing. Having been told he may eventually lose his sight; Dad then went on a tall ship voyage across the Atlantic to Argentina. After 3 months and 7000 miles he sailed back to England.. where he underwent treatment for his failing eyes. This however had no effect and he was registered blind.

In 2012, Dad was introduced to a new pal; (this sentence has produced a lot of tears in him) this is a very, very special friend.. Nimbus, he says ‘the naughtiest guide dog in the world’.. who was adopted by Blind Veterans UK on his behalf. BVUK enabled Dad to carry on his adventurous lifestyle inclusive of skiing and climbing, albeit blind! Nimbus is now retired and accompanying Dad through a tough time; to his naughty pawed pal and BVUK, the whole family are eternally grateful.


This brings us to the main body of suffering he has endured, in 2004 he had a massive stroke which paralysed the whole of the right-hand side of his body. Under the wing of the NHS he managed to come out of that quite whole, things went along fairly uninterrupted until November 2016 when he had another massive stroke affecting his left side. He now finds himself isolated in his home in Suffolk, trapped inside his body, with a severely debilitating speech impairment, making it near impossible for him to communicate effectively. He can no longer walk without help, but he still has the resolution, gumption and fire in his belly to experience life!

Whilst attempting a walking trip in a very difficult wheelchair for dad to sit in comfortably at the best of times, let alone when trying to get some good natural air in his lungs, we quite literally stumbled across a wonderful woman who has inspired us to share his story and try to gather funds so as to gift Dad a new lease of life. He had only been out once properly this entire year due to the difficulties with the chair, COVID and communication struggles, that is no life. We got to talking about the possibility of a better solution to Dad’s isolation issue, which has been a huge pressure ever since his stroke. Sometimes, you need an injection of energy from outside of your bubble to create changes within, and this was just that.

We intend to take this inspiration forward and have booked to meet a wheelchair whizz who will begin the process of designing dad a chair on the 29th of July 2020; we hope to create the sort of chair that can infuse the energy of his past into the present and empower him to gratefully give back to the many wonderful organisations that have supported him and us all as a family throughout this experience.

With this chair Dad will be able to explore his local town and enjoy nature as he has always loved to do, and as the chair will be made bespoke we are going to make sure it can accommodate as many adventures as possible! We will raise funds for Blind Veterans UK and Guide Dogs for the Blind with his new wheels :) this will be the injection of mobility he needs to not only fill his days with simple pleasures, but also bring the beginning of many explorations that bring joy and much needed support to others, in his fresh new life.


We are looking to raise £1000 by the end of July, ultimately we will need at least £3,500 to secure him the wheelchair he requires to be active again, assisted by his wonderful carers and his family.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this, we send out all of our love and thank you again to those able to support us as we facilitate Dad's shift back into a  life of adventure and exploration. If by a stroke of luck we raise over the proposed amount we will be donating it to Blind Veterans UK. 

If you are interested in the charities we will be raising awareness and funds for please explore the links below:

https://www.blindveterans.org.uk/ 

https://www.guidedogs.org.uk/

WATCH THIS SPACE! <3 our favourite song together, 'FLY ME TO THE MOON'. Frank Sinatra,  https://youtu.be/mQR0bXO_yI8  , 
very apt. for this moment; ‘IM A MACHINE!!!’ we hear him say as he tries to break free of his body again :)



^^ a reminder to all those who know him, the young and beautiful soul of Christopher John Francis!