Help Charlie create a specialist neurotherapy room
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My name is Carole Crosby and my son Charlie suffered a massive brain AVM rupture in June 2019 shortly after his 23rd birthday. Charlie had life saving surgery but his injuries have left him with devastating disabilities. Charlie has difficulty speaking and is unable to use the right side of his body.
Charlie was a very keen and talented sportsman and excelled at golf and football, he had a fantastic future until this tragically took his life away from him. We now want to help him as he faces the biggest challenge of all in trying to rebuild his life.
He was discharged from hospital early due to Covid 19 and he is having private rehab therapy at home. Private therapy is very expensive and is currently costing around £700 plus per week. The NHS unfortunately only provides 6 weeks of therapy regardless of age and needs, therefore expensive private therapy and equipment is the only way for Charlie to improve. This is making a massive difference for Charlie and he has been working incredibly hard with the therapists, now we have reached a stage where he needs a dedicated therapy room with the essential equipment required to enable him to achieve his goal of living an independent life.
Charlie’s golf day in May 2020 was cancelled due to Covid 19 restrictions along with other smaller charity events that were planned for him so I am asking for any help that anyone could possibly give to enable us to achieve our goal of making a dedicated therapy room at home for him.
Charlie’s story
At the tender age of 23 Charlie Crosby had his whole life ahead of him. He had a great future with excellent career prospects, he was a larger than life character, fun loving and very popular with a large group of friends. He was an outstanding sportsman, he was a trainee golf professional and played for the scratch team at his golf club. He loved to play football and played at a high level representing Cockfosters then Phoenix, he enjoyed all sports and was regularly going to the gym.
Out of the blue Charlie suddenly collapsed on the morning of 6th June 2019 and was taken to Barnet hospital by ambulance. After a CT scan it was found that he had a massive bleed on the brain.
He was put in an induced coma and rushed by emergency ambulance to the London Neurological Hospital in Queens Square where he was taken straight down for emergency life saving surgery that lasted 7 hours.
Charlie had an AVM that ruptured deep in the left side of his brain. This is a rare condition that you are born with and you will not know until it ruptures. This could happen to anyone at anytime and it is indiscriminate.
We we’re told that the surgery went as well as possible but the extent of the brain damage was unknown at that time. We were told by the surgeons that the right side of his body would be paralysed and the damage caused by the devastating rupture deep in his brain would result in difficulties with speech and understanding. He was on a life support machine which assisted his breathing and he did not regain consciousness. During this time he had several terrible setbacks, he developed swelling in the brain and was rushed for further life saving surgery which meant that he needed a craniotomy and a huge part of his skull was removed permanently. He had a collapsed lung and had aspirated which caused more problems for Charlie, we were told the terrible news by the doctors that we might lose him several times. We spent every possible hour at his bedside as he pulled through against the odds. After a couple of months he was moved to the high dependency unit then on to a ward.
Charlie was making progress although he was being fed through a tube and was still unable to speak at all. He also had a tracheotomy which is a tube inserted through his neck in his throat to help him to breathe without the life support machine. He also had a catheter and was indefinitely confined to his bed.
After he improved enough to have the tracheotomy removed he had a set back and was rushed back in to intensive care with hydrocephalus which was further swelling and fluid within his brain.
Eventually Charlie improved enough to be moved to a rehabilitation unit where he received daily physiotherapy and speech therapy until he was discharged early due to the outbreak of Covid 19 in March 2020.
On 18th June Charlie went back to the National Hospital for Neurology at Queens Square to have cranioplasty surgery. This involves the fitting of a plate to replace the large piece of skull that was removed last year. Charlie had some complications with this and was in hospital for 3 weeks alone in isolation with no visitors due to Covid 19.
He is now at home and I am delighted to say that he has made incredible progress. He is able to eat and drink, his speech is improving steadily with the help of his private speech therapist. He can now walk with some assistance and he is gradually regaining the use of his right leg and arm with help of his private physiotherapists. He has now reached a stage where it is critical for him to be able to use very specialised equipment which will help him massively. We have decided to use a room at home and make it into a dedicated therapy room for Charlie with the advice of his therapists.
If anyone could help in any way we would be forever grateful.
Carole and Lee Crosby
Charlie was a very keen and talented sportsman and excelled at golf and football, he had a fantastic future until this tragically took his life away from him. We now want to help him as he faces the biggest challenge of all in trying to rebuild his life.
He was discharged from hospital early due to Covid 19 and he is having private rehab therapy at home. Private therapy is very expensive and is currently costing around £700 plus per week. The NHS unfortunately only provides 6 weeks of therapy regardless of age and needs, therefore expensive private therapy and equipment is the only way for Charlie to improve. This is making a massive difference for Charlie and he has been working incredibly hard with the therapists, now we have reached a stage where he needs a dedicated therapy room with the essential equipment required to enable him to achieve his goal of living an independent life.
Charlie’s golf day in May 2020 was cancelled due to Covid 19 restrictions along with other smaller charity events that were planned for him so I am asking for any help that anyone could possibly give to enable us to achieve our goal of making a dedicated therapy room at home for him.
Charlie’s story
At the tender age of 23 Charlie Crosby had his whole life ahead of him. He had a great future with excellent career prospects, he was a larger than life character, fun loving and very popular with a large group of friends. He was an outstanding sportsman, he was a trainee golf professional and played for the scratch team at his golf club. He loved to play football and played at a high level representing Cockfosters then Phoenix, he enjoyed all sports and was regularly going to the gym.
Out of the blue Charlie suddenly collapsed on the morning of 6th June 2019 and was taken to Barnet hospital by ambulance. After a CT scan it was found that he had a massive bleed on the brain.
He was put in an induced coma and rushed by emergency ambulance to the London Neurological Hospital in Queens Square where he was taken straight down for emergency life saving surgery that lasted 7 hours.
Charlie had an AVM that ruptured deep in the left side of his brain. This is a rare condition that you are born with and you will not know until it ruptures. This could happen to anyone at anytime and it is indiscriminate.
We we’re told that the surgery went as well as possible but the extent of the brain damage was unknown at that time. We were told by the surgeons that the right side of his body would be paralysed and the damage caused by the devastating rupture deep in his brain would result in difficulties with speech and understanding. He was on a life support machine which assisted his breathing and he did not regain consciousness. During this time he had several terrible setbacks, he developed swelling in the brain and was rushed for further life saving surgery which meant that he needed a craniotomy and a huge part of his skull was removed permanently. He had a collapsed lung and had aspirated which caused more problems for Charlie, we were told the terrible news by the doctors that we might lose him several times. We spent every possible hour at his bedside as he pulled through against the odds. After a couple of months he was moved to the high dependency unit then on to a ward.
Charlie was making progress although he was being fed through a tube and was still unable to speak at all. He also had a tracheotomy which is a tube inserted through his neck in his throat to help him to breathe without the life support machine. He also had a catheter and was indefinitely confined to his bed.
After he improved enough to have the tracheotomy removed he had a set back and was rushed back in to intensive care with hydrocephalus which was further swelling and fluid within his brain.
Eventually Charlie improved enough to be moved to a rehabilitation unit where he received daily physiotherapy and speech therapy until he was discharged early due to the outbreak of Covid 19 in March 2020.
On 18th June Charlie went back to the National Hospital for Neurology at Queens Square to have cranioplasty surgery. This involves the fitting of a plate to replace the large piece of skull that was removed last year. Charlie had some complications with this and was in hospital for 3 weeks alone in isolation with no visitors due to Covid 19.
He is now at home and I am delighted to say that he has made incredible progress. He is able to eat and drink, his speech is improving steadily with the help of his private speech therapist. He can now walk with some assistance and he is gradually regaining the use of his right leg and arm with help of his private physiotherapists. He has now reached a stage where it is critical for him to be able to use very specialised equipment which will help him massively. We have decided to use a room at home and make it into a dedicated therapy room for Charlie with the advice of his therapists.
If anyone could help in any way we would be forever grateful.
Carole and Lee Crosby
Organiser
Carole Crosby
Organiser
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