Hi, my name's Donna Weston and I'm Pete Long's mum.

As many of you know, on Saturday 20 December Pete had a bicycle accident coming home from work at about 8:10pm. He hit a patch of damaged footpath on William Street that resulted in him being thrown off his bike. Fortunately, the ambulance was there in 30 seconds and Pete was at Royal Perth Hospital in four minutes. He has suffered some pretty severe injuries including a brain injury. He has also broken his right collarbone, cheekbone, pelvis, a finger and all of the ribs on his right side (at least once but mostly two or three times).

They quickly operated to relieve pressure on his brain and have removed a large part of his skull to let the brain swell. He will need to wear a medical helmet for a couple of months until he's more stable and the piece of skull can be replaced.

Pete was in the ICU for a bit over a week, but is now in a high dependency ward. His speech and comprehension is impacted at the moment as the brain injury has mainly affected his right temporal lobe, so he’s really frustrated that he can’t find the words to convey what he wants to say (and VERY frustrated that he can't just walk out!).

For now it’s day by day and recognising the positive progress Pete is making. However we know he is going to need extensive speech and physiotherapy once his body is ready. We also need to cover ambulance and other bills, as well as ensuring his rent is covered.

Many of our amazing community have asked how they can help and, after talking it over with family, we feel this is the best we can do to make sure Pete can focus on his recovery.

If you know Pete, you'll also know how incredibly independent he is. For once, though, he's just going to have to let his friends and family support him so we can have him back to his uniquely creative, compassionate, quirky and loving self as soon as possible.

So, in short, all donations will help towards his medical expenses and living expenses while he can't work. I am keeping a spreadsheet for transparency which I can provide at any time to donors.

If you have any questions at all, please contact me or his sisters Sarah and Maddy. One of us at least visits every day.

With thanks,

Donna xxx