Hi, my name is Jack and I am raising money for my friend Joe.

Joe recently suffered a serious accident while working as a tree surgeon.

While at work, a falling branch struck him and shattered one of the vertebrae in his neck, causing severe swelling around his spinal cord. Currently, he is in hospital, paralysed from the shoulders down.

Anyone who knows Joe will know how much he loves being active. It has always been such a huge part of his life, which makes what he’s currently going through incredibly difficult.

I have already run the Vale of York half marathon to raise funds for Joe, and we have used some of those funds to buy him an iPad, stand and headphones, to give him some independence during his potentially long stay in hospital.

But Joe will need extensive rehab in order to have the best chance of recovering from his injuries and living a normal life. His journey will be months to years, rather than weeks to months.

He has already made phenomenal progress, and in 5 weeks he has effectively learnt to breathe again, after being entirely dependent on a ventilator. He has also developed movement in his left leg, and there are signs that he is beginning the same process with his right leg. He has had his tracheostomy (breathing tube in the throat) removed, and has been moved from the ICU to a regular hospital ward.

Whilst it is brilliant that he has achieved this milestone, Joe now faces an uncertain period of waiting for a place to become available at the Yorkshire Regional Spinal Injuries Unit at Pinderfields hospital. The most effective and sophisticated rehab can only really begin when he is able to access this place.

We propose to use the money from your donations to buy as much additional rehabilitation as possible for Joe, in order to bridge any gap that may occur before or after his stay at Pinderfields, and/or to supplement the brilliant care that the NHS is able to provide.

If you can donate anything at all, it would mean a huge amount to Joe and everyone who cares about him. If you can’t donate, sharing this page would be just as appreciated.

Thank you