I was already disabled by CFS/ME, Fibromyalgia and Arthritis when I fell over and broke my hip on 03/11/22, and then I spent the next six months in hospital.

During the operation to fix my complicated spiral fracture I started bleeding badly and had to have several

units of blood. After the operation was completed, I spent the next five days

in the Intensive Care Unit, I had sepsis,

I had more blood transfused,I had several issues going on.

I was then transferred to ward 41 where I received the best care and attention while I continued my recovery. After six weeks I was ready to go to start my rehabilitation so that I would be able to go home. The physiotherapy team were trying their best to get me upright and mobile and a date was set ready to start my rehabilitation, and the day before that I became ill with a chest infection which then turned into pneumonia and then I became really poorly and was tested for COVID-19 and it was positive. The next day I took a turn for the worse and was transferred to the Intensive Care Unit and was on a CPAP mask and, thank God, I started to recover, I was in ICU for 6 days and on the last day I got the first of several infections in my wound. I went back to ward 41 and was in a side room until I no longer tested positive and then I rejoined the main ward.

During the next four months I had 2 more operations,because the

infection in my wound would not heal up by itself, so I had an operation to see why. The bone had barely started to knit together and the infection was due to the titanium metalwork in my leg. This was fully cleaned up. The infection was all cleaned out and heavy duty antibiotics were added around the deep hole inside the wound then it was stitched back up.

I had physiotherapy every day which was intense and caused me a world of pain and many times had me crying. The physio team were seeing small improvements but, due to the fatigue and full body pain I live with daily due to my disabilities,the results were coming very slowly.

I was hoisted from my bed to my chair so I could sit out for my meals and visiting and my physio.

I was still getting infections in my wound so my surgeon sent me for x-rays and an ultrasound scan so that he could see how the healing of the bone was progressing and to see the seriousness of the infection . The bone was making no progress and the level of infection was large and the metalwork was still the cause of the infection. Had the bone made good progression the metalwork could have been removed and the bone would have been what held me up when I stood up, and the metalwork could have been removed then the infections would cease.

Unfortunately the bone wasn't knitted and getting stronger. I still wasn't able to stand up and walk. I had only just been able to support myself when I was sitting up and I could move to the edge of the bed and lower my legs and put my feet on the floor, and to do all that I had to be be helped by the physiotherapists, and that's as much as I could do, I couldn't weight bear, so I couldn't stand up or walk.

The surgeon told me there was an operation he could do on my hip but it would be a last resort. After healing time and physiotherapy I may be able to regain the strength to stand and have a limited kind of mobility like I had before I fell, back then I used a zimmer frame, walking sticks and a wheelchair, but it would involve taking my bone out and removing the "ball" from the "ball and socket" and then the socket would eventually become a kind of "fibrous " hip, and with serious physiotherapy it might be able to support me in standing up. There was a drawback though, by sawing off the "ball" it would leave my leg approximately 3 inches shorter but I would be able to get a built up shoe to level my height up, so after talking with my family, and the doctors and nurses I made the decision to have the operation.

I was poorly after the operation, and yet again the care and attention I received was excellent.

The surgeon told me that my hip was riddled with Psoriatic Arthritis and my other hip will very likely be the same and I will be able to have the same operation and so both legs will then be the same length.

I restarted physiotherapy as soon as possible. The pain I was in was constant and it was dreadful, I was crying and asking for pain killers and taking oramorph every two hours, and that was day and night relentless pain. During my physio sessions it was becoming increasingly plain to see that I had very little chance of standing up, and even with specific equipment to help me, I couldn't stand up so I wouldn't be able to walk, so my physio sessions were scaled right back.

I had been through so much since I was admitted to hospital. I had been in the Intensive Care Unit with my hip and Sepsis, I'd had a chest infection, pneumonia and then COVID 19 saw me back in Intensive Care, and I was really ill. I had had blood transfusions,albumen transfusions,fluids, heavy duty IV antibiotics for weeks, nebulisers twice a day during and after the second bout of pneumonia, Psoriasis developed down the full length of my leg and all down my back, I had more chest infections and I had special equipment on my wound 24 hours a day draining the infection from my wound, and the last of the infections ate a deep hole in my leg which did eventually heal but I still have a dent in my leg where it was.

After all of that, I can't stand up and I can't walk, I'm bed bound and housebound, I'm catheterised and wear adult nappies, and I am hoisted from my hospital bed to my chair and hoisted back to my bed by my carers. I have two carers , they come four times a day and they wash me, hoist me, make my meals,etc.

I have an Occupational Therapist and a Community Physiotherapist who come every six weeks or so. They have been getting concerned about my posture when I'm in my chair as I slip down during the time I'm sitting there and I can't reposition myself,I rarely sit out for more than three hours at a time because I'm very uncomfortable and the carers don't visit for hours between meals and all the time I'm in the chair I am in lots of pain, and living with chronic pain is very disabling.

The Occupational Therapist arranged for me to try out a "Sorrento" "Tilt In Space" chair. I had the use of it for five days and it made a massive difference to me, it was like sitting on a cloud. It was so very comfortable.

The chair is on wheels and can be moved to anywhere in the room making it easier for the carers to hoist me from bed to chair to bed.

The Sorrento Chair maximises comfort as well as postural support and pressure management. It has built in pressure cushions all down the back of the chair and in the sides and the seat.It has a head rest and a foot rest. "Tilt in Space" maintains the angle of the knees,hips and ankles, whilst adjusting the chair it's the angle that gets adjusted and not the person. The head support and foot plates give head to toe postural support. I have complex seating needs and require a high level of postural support when I'm sitting in the chair, and I also need high levels of pressure management which is provided by the built in pressure cushions.The chair also gives me a good mid line sitting position so I don't slip down in it because I can reposition myself.

The built in pressure cushions help me so much with my low muscle tone and my delicate skin which tears easily and can cause deep tissue injuries (bed sores), however I am still in pain with Fibromyalgia and Arthritis pain, and I'm still in pain from my hip injury (which has never gone away). The "Tilt in Space Chair" improved my posture. It tilts forwards and reclines backwards, and it has high leg elevation which was so very comfortable for me. The chair is very easy to operate and I was very comfortable when the chair was tilted at any angle and I was able to sit out all day, from 10am until 7pm. The chair had such a positive affect on me that I decided to ask for the price.

It is £3,500.

On finding this out I was very upset, devastated actually, because my only income comes from ESA and PIP which are both disability benefits, so the price of the chair makes it way out of my reach.

Before I was discharged from hospital I asked the doctor a simple question and I asked for the truth, the question was "In your opinion doctor, will I ever walk again?" His answer was " Do you want the truth?" and I said "Yes please." The answer was straight to the point.

"No mate, no you won't." He didn't mince his words and he gave me the straight answer I wanted and he didn't give me false hope.

The "Sorrento " chair had had such a positive affect on myself, on my daily life and on my family , particularly my Mum. I was not sitting slumped in the chair,in pain and unable to move or reposition myself, and I was no longer in bed 24 hours a day due to barely getting out of bed because of the pain that sitting in the chair was causing me. For the five days that I had the chair for the triaI period, I was hoisted directly into comfort.

My posture was great ,not once did I slip down, and I was never in pain through bad posture.

It was my Mum who suggested starting a GoFundMe fundraiser.She knew what a positive difference the "Sorrento" chair would make to me and my life, and she knew I would have to ask for help to buy it. Help from my family, from my friends and from the wider community.

Please consider making a donation.

The tilt in space chair will make such a difference to me and my life. No donation is too small. Thank you so much for reading my story.

From the bottom of my heart, I humbly ask that you share my GoFundMe story with your friends and family.

I thank each and everyone of you in advance for your support.

Deb.