Get Hattie a Quickie
Donation protected
Hi there, I'm Hattie and I'm a newly qualified doctor after 7 years hard work (yay me)! The thing that makes me slightly different to my peers is that I'm a disabled doctor. I desperately need some new wheels to help my start my new job as a junior doctor in East Surrey Hospital!
I was unfortunate enough to injure my ankle when I was 16. After multiple surgeries, scans, physio and injections it just isn't going to be normal again and behaves like an arthritic joint.
What this means for me is that I can only walk very small amounts before I have severe pain, I have to take painkillers every day and when I'm at work or on a day out I use a wheelchair. This was a huge adjustment for me and one that I resisted until 3 years into my medical degree when I started doing placements in the hospital every day and I just wasn't able to keep hobbling around on crutches and in pain just so I didn't have to be seen as a wheelchair user. Anyone who has seen me grow into a baby doctor in the last 4 years will know me as "the one in the wheelchair" but it might be a surprise to some people that I use a wheelchair every day. I like to joke that "social media doesn't know I'm disabled" and what I mean by this is that because I still have a lot of embarrassment about other people's opinions and assumptions about being a wheelchair user, I always stand up to take photos or refuse to have them taken of me while I'm in the chair. But I can assure you that doesn't mean I'm faking it or don't need to use the chair, a lot of wheelchair users are in fact able to walk or stand small amounts and for me I can do this if I really want to even if it means spending the next few days lying in bed with an ice pack and some heavy pain relief.
Anyway, I'm really looking forward to starting my new job and feel proud to have made it through med school as a wheelchair user and with all the difficulties I have faced along the way. But this is where I need to ask for some help (even though this is not something I've gotten good at yet)!
The wheelchair I have used throughout med school is the most basic version available on the NHS, what this means is it's very clunky, is meant for short bursts of self-propelling (not long night shifts on call in a hospital) and doesn't allow me to do the things I need and want to do as a doctor in the next chapter of my life.
I constantly have bruises on the inside of my arms from propelling myself and hitting against the poorly designed armrests. I struggle every day lugging it in and out of my boot, and I take up far too much space on already cramped wards. Not to mention it isn't built to be sanitized against coronavirus (as you can see from the photo I've recently been working on the frontline and actually had the virus myself).
I am trying to raise the money to buy a Quickie wheelchair which is lightweight, compact, I can customize it to suit my needs and add things like a bag for my stethoscope or bleep phone. I appreciate it's a difficult time for everyone at the moment and the worst possible time to be asking for financial aid, and don't even get me started on the sad reality that something like this isn't provided. I'm not alone in this, many people with disabilities are having to crowdfund in order to get the aids/chairs they need.
But please if you can spare even a tiny amount to help me get Dr Wood's Wheels I will be eternally grateful and I hope to pay forward your kindness to all of my future patients.
I was unfortunate enough to injure my ankle when I was 16. After multiple surgeries, scans, physio and injections it just isn't going to be normal again and behaves like an arthritic joint.
What this means for me is that I can only walk very small amounts before I have severe pain, I have to take painkillers every day and when I'm at work or on a day out I use a wheelchair. This was a huge adjustment for me and one that I resisted until 3 years into my medical degree when I started doing placements in the hospital every day and I just wasn't able to keep hobbling around on crutches and in pain just so I didn't have to be seen as a wheelchair user. Anyone who has seen me grow into a baby doctor in the last 4 years will know me as "the one in the wheelchair" but it might be a surprise to some people that I use a wheelchair every day. I like to joke that "social media doesn't know I'm disabled" and what I mean by this is that because I still have a lot of embarrassment about other people's opinions and assumptions about being a wheelchair user, I always stand up to take photos or refuse to have them taken of me while I'm in the chair. But I can assure you that doesn't mean I'm faking it or don't need to use the chair, a lot of wheelchair users are in fact able to walk or stand small amounts and for me I can do this if I really want to even if it means spending the next few days lying in bed with an ice pack and some heavy pain relief.
Anyway, I'm really looking forward to starting my new job and feel proud to have made it through med school as a wheelchair user and with all the difficulties I have faced along the way. But this is where I need to ask for some help (even though this is not something I've gotten good at yet)!
The wheelchair I have used throughout med school is the most basic version available on the NHS, what this means is it's very clunky, is meant for short bursts of self-propelling (not long night shifts on call in a hospital) and doesn't allow me to do the things I need and want to do as a doctor in the next chapter of my life.
I constantly have bruises on the inside of my arms from propelling myself and hitting against the poorly designed armrests. I struggle every day lugging it in and out of my boot, and I take up far too much space on already cramped wards. Not to mention it isn't built to be sanitized against coronavirus (as you can see from the photo I've recently been working on the frontline and actually had the virus myself).
I am trying to raise the money to buy a Quickie wheelchair which is lightweight, compact, I can customize it to suit my needs and add things like a bag for my stethoscope or bleep phone. I appreciate it's a difficult time for everyone at the moment and the worst possible time to be asking for financial aid, and don't even get me started on the sad reality that something like this isn't provided. I'm not alone in this, many people with disabilities are having to crowdfund in order to get the aids/chairs they need.
But please if you can spare even a tiny amount to help me get Dr Wood's Wheels I will be eternally grateful and I hope to pay forward your kindness to all of my future patients.
Organizer
Harriet Wood
Organizer