Hi, my names Amber and i’m fundraising for my dad Ian Titchener. A few weeks ago, everything changed in an instant. Our dad suffered a serious stroke that’s completely turned our world upside down.

The bleed on his brain has caused damage that’s affected his speech, memory, and behaviour. Every day brings new challenges, and while there are moments of progress, it’s a long and uncertain journey ahead. Some people think he’ll be home any day now, but the truth is what has happened is serious and this kind of recovery takes months to years of rehab, patience, and support.

Even with all he’s going through, his sense of humour still manages to shine through usually with a few tasteful swear words and his trademark middle finger alongside his love for Chelsea FC.

He’s been in hospital for almost a month now, and we still don’t know when he’ll be able to come home. The next step is for him to move to a rehabilitation centre to help his brain recover from the damage to it, but like so many others, he’s currently stuck on a very long waiting list, meaning we’re having to explore other options and support him as best we can in the meantime.

To make things harder, he’s in a hospital far from home, so my mum, my sister and I have been driving back and forth every day to be with him. The costs of travel, petrol, food, and taking time off work to visit have quickly added up on top of keeping everything running at home and preparing / modifying our home for when he’s finally ready to return.

Because Dad is self-employed, his time in hospital means there’s been no income coming in, and it’s taken a real toll on us all. We’ve created this GoFundMe to help ease some of that pressure covering travel and food costs, helping us prepare the house for when he eventually comes home, and exploring better care options while he waits for rehab as the NHS is so overstretched meaning this could be months.

This isn’t about charity it’s about giving Dad the best chance to recover without the added stress and worry. Any donation, share, or kind message makes such a difference and means more to us than we can ever say. He’s been loving all the messages he’s received already.

Thank you to everyone who’s checked in, sent love, or offered support. It’s been the hardest time and we just want to get him home when he’s truly ready healthy, strong, and back to himself again.

— Amber, Jo and Daisy xx