Help Chris Walk After Brutal Attack

In July I was victim to a homophobic attack. It lasted 15 minutes and broke my lower right leg in three places. I needed a titanium nail inserted into my tibia with 8 screws to hold everything in place. I had 5 days in hospital, 4 months with crutches and have attended over 30 medical appointments so far.

During my recovery, I was completely reliant on the generosity of friends for places to live and as a result moved from North to South London. Transferring to my new local hospital for physio took 10 weeks, so I ended up learning to walk crutch-free without any medical supervision. Currently I can only walk at a snail's pace, with a definite limp and frequent stops required.

This has been a life changing occurrence and has prevented me from realising my dream of teaching English around the world. I had recently qualified with a TrinityCERT TESOL, but my life has been on hold ever since. My attacker has been convicted of GBH with intent and has begun a 10 year prison sentence. I have been told that my leg will never be the same and that I am likely to develop arthritis in my ankle in the next 20 years.

So I am desperate now to concentrate on my recovery, to make up for the time lost transferring between hospitals and also to try and improve my prognosis for the long term effects of this despicable act. Your donation will help me to access specialist care to aid this recovery.

Specifically, I'd like access to temperature controlled hydrotherapy (which allows me to build muscle in a heated water tank that supports my body weight) and also for regular physiotherapy and other training equipment which I cannot get from the NHS. This should allow me to walk normally again and hopefully to start being active in running and cycling once more.

In addition, I am most anxious to prevent my ankle from developing posttraumatic arthritis or at least to manage the degradation of the cartilage so that I don't have to suffer in later years.  I can't get this kind of preventative care from the NHS either and this will have a massive impact on my life. 

Every little will help toward my goal, so if you can help, you could really make a difference. Thank you so much for reading this.