Paralysed on life support and desperately needs your help...

Hello everyone,

My name is Terry Esler from Ballymena, Northern Ireland and my son Chris has survived this life-changing injury for almost 18 years now due to a motocross accident in 2007.

Considering we were told he would be lucky if he would survive five!

We are trying to raise in the region of £40,000 that will assist Chris in much-needed equipment to enable him to keep on living with some as such, now that we can finally get the chance to reach out to people all over the world as back in 2007, there was no such thing as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or a platform such as this.

Everyone who has a chance to meet Chris, even for a short time are amazed and inspired by him.

How he deals with his injury never mind what he has gone through to get here all these years later probably has no idea the nerve pain he constantly suffers from which is excruciating on its own.

It makes him feel like he has frostbite all over his entire body all day every day, as well as other things that you couldn't imagine but believe it or not that isn't the reason we are trying to raise these funds...

A few years back Chris suffered a second severe injury to his neck that no one knows about due to the violent bouncing around by the extremely hard suspension in his current van.

This has bent a titanium rod and a screw in his neck by 9mm to the left side of his neck and he has built up roughly 6 inches of scar tissue and muscle development in all the wrong areas of his neck, which in truth is crippling him at the moment.

He is always having to take a large number of painkillers now that he hates (on top of the 30+ tablets he must take every day)

These have added a lot more weight onto him making him more uncomfortable and more self-conscious.

But mainly he is most reluctant to leave the house at all to travel anywhere because it causes him agony every bump we hit,

... and if this happens he will have no life at all.

He has to change vehicles as the one he has now will have to go back to an English company that will no longer supply to NI, so he has to get one from here.

The main thing he needs to change is to air suspension like he had in his first silver van but this needs to happen before the vehicle is adapted to a disability vehicle meaning we have very limited time to raise these funds, on a time estimated of 3-4 months. Part of the funds will also allow Chris to attend physio sessions 3-4 times a week.

If you wish to know more about our son and what he has been through in the first few years this is Chris' story told in his own words...

"On April 9th, 2007, aged 24, I started a new challenge in my life.

Having won a good number of races in the semi-expert motocross championship in 2006 I moved up to the expert motocross championship.

I knew this day would have challenges but nothing like what was to come...

The day was going brilliantly with two good results in the first two races, but halfway through the last race of the day, I was breaking into the last corner doing approx 10-15mph at Donemana race track.

Then bang…

An Electric shock goes right through my entire body and I’m on the ground looking back up the track, saying “What the hell”. I go to get up and only my head moves slightly, I go to try again and my head only moves a little bit more, somehow it’s locked and confirmed in my brain in those few seconds that I am paralysed and will never move again. I was utterly terrified, so I tried to scream but nothing happened. I realised I was suffocating. I could vaguely see my dad and my aunt running up towards me and I could hear people talking but not exact words, then I could feel my body rolling back, the only clear words I heard were “Cut it, cut it, cut it”. Then that’s it, everything turns black...

Those words "Cut it cut it cut it" were from my dad trying to take the helmet off so that the paramedics could give me breaths and start chest compressions because I was going into cardiac arrest. Thankfully my dad got the helmet off and the paramedics were able to revive me and I was brought back within 30 seconds...

Five days later in the Intensive Care Unit at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast, I woke up and asked where am I realising I couldn't speak properly. A nurse got my mum, dad, girlfriend of five years and surgeons to explain to me where I am and why I am here.

The surgeons told me that I have broken the c2/c3/c4 vertebrae in my neck which has crushed my spinal cord which means I will have little chance of ever moving again and will continue to need a machine to breathe for me. As I could only whisper, I stated in the best way I could “It’s ok, I remember all that, I already knew I was paralysed on the track, but I remember suffocating which was so much worse, so I am ok with whatever way I’m alive, I’m just happy to be here".

From the time of that unforgettable conversation, until this very day, I have been determined, strong, and positive using all of the focus, drive and energy I previously used to race to now remain a part of this world for as long as possible and learn to embrace all the challenges that was ahead of me and still are to this day.

One thing I never expected to have to ever overcome was to end my five-year relationship with my girlfriend only a couple of months whom I adored who was also my best friend. This was an exceptionally hard decision to make because I was deeply in love with her but regretfully had to do this at the time even though I would miss her every day desperately from then to this very day, to save us both.

So really, being on my own, with only my parents (who were grieving themselves) and a few family members for support, many people doubted my positivity, resilience, and willpower as I was an unusual case, being conscious and happy given the severity of my injuries.

I still was able to gather my thoughts and come to terms with everything, managing to figure out a way and a system to deal with my injury in those first days, weeks and months, as well as trying to find a new way to communicate as I was non-verbal for the first 3 months. Also, different aspects of my injury like getting into and getting used to a wheelchair, learning to talk on a machine, and simply eating again which was very painful initially, and grasping most of the aspects of the new life I would be living even though nearly all nurses, doctors and consultants doubted me as they thought I was in denial and not accepting my life-changing injuries.

What I didn't expect was having to do it all while spending 6 months living in the most serious Intensive Care Unit in the UK, where 42 people have died all around me and the sound of the poor families who lost their loved ones who came to see their relatives for the last final time and the howling and screaming I had to endure was horrendous,

When I did transfer to Musgrave I had to spend a further 2 years and 3 months there waiting for my care package to be built up. This allowed me to feel like I had a purpose, spending most of my time helping others through their rehabilitation. I was able to also have a few pieces of media in local news.e

So to finally get to an adapted house, 2 years and 9 months after my accident and waiting in hospitals, was amazing and it has been pretty good over these last number of years.

What most people don't know or realise is that I need two ICU-level trained staff to be with me 24 hours a day to keep me alive which means I am never in a room on my own or even in my bedroom at night, the staff swap over every 30 minutes even while I try to sleep.

It also means almost everywhere I go I have to pay for 3 tickets to every event as they can never leave my side. As well as suffering from, like most other people with this injury, extreme nerve pain 24/7. Also, I have spent long periods on bedrest because I have had pressure sores where I have to lay flat on my back 24 hours a day, sometimes weeks/months at a time (in my case, over 7 years in total!) until they are healed."

We must take the time to thank a few exceptionally kind people who did a few fundraisers at the time of our son's accident.

Unfortunately because of a loophole in his insurance coverage that meant he only received a few thousand pounds instead of a mid-six-figure sum that most people probably think he received.

These funds raised enough money for him to pay for some devices and adaptations to his new home.

These have played a substantial role in his daily living over the years that we must tell you are mostly redundant or outdated now that he can't replace them as that money depleted quite a few years ago.

Over the years, there were other people in similar situations to him who were higher profile in their perspective fields. Funds were more readily available to them.

This has made a massive difference to their lives and hope if we can raise a reasonable amount we will hopefully enjoy some of the benefits they have which would make a massive difference to our son's life and possibly others in different situations that we know we could help as well.

Currently, there is more technically advanced equipment and new technology available that will make a huge impact on the standard of his can live his life now and in the future and secure funds for new designs or equipment as the world advances.

So having read our son's story any donations big or small will be massively appreciated and we will be eternally grateful for your help...

Terry Esler #4.