Spinal Surgery for Ryan Atkin
Donation protected
After many friends of Ryan's have suggested, he & I have decided to start a GoFundMe in order to help raise money we will need for him to privately get the spinal surgery, either removal or fusion of his lower bulging discs, which will cost upwards of £7,000 if we are fortunate enough to get him operated in Northern Ireland as soon as possible (alternatively we may need to go to Dublin if the service is available sooner for him and we are unsure of how much this would cost at this stage).
Ryan has had ongoing issues with sciatica and back pain for the last few years, he had to take time off from work because of these issues. He has now had to come out of work again because his mobility is completely limited to lying in bed or on his reclining chair; he cannot sit, stand, walk, or put any pressure at all onto his left leg.
Because of the current situation with COVID-19, going through the NHS isn't an option; we are so grateful Ryan's family have been paying for him to go private, an MRI (31st October), consultant with a Dr at a private hospital to discuss his results and to discuss possible options, and steroid injections last Monday (30th November).
On the Thursday morning, before his injections upcoming on Monday, Ryan was trying to put his socks on and took a bad turn which left him in horrific pain all weekend. Come the Monday the injections were excruciating and although they say they take a few weeks to fully kick in, we can't see any improvement in fact he has went downhill again since the injection last week.
He seemed to be improving after the injection, by the Friday he was able to sit, walk and stand. His mobility appeared to have improved, but come the next day his pain was increasing again and he was limited to his reclining chair and that night he was back to the same excruciating pain he was in prior to his bad turn the previous week. Ryan was literally screaming and crying in pain all night and into the following day. Neither of us slept, at 6am I tried phoning for an ambulance (as I done the week before) to try and get him help, they couldn't send one out because of the current situation with the pandemic. His parents were able to get an ambulance to our house and we are so grateful for their help and the help of the men who came out to help Ryan and got him to hospital. He spent 8 hours in a short stay ward, 5+ nurses/doctors came to him for him to repeat his situation over and over and in the end they just ended up giving him more of the same medication he has been on and told him to be on his way. During all of this, he was still in the same excruciating pain and crying, they wouldn't even keep him in to try and help him sleep and manage his pain, his family and I were so beyond frustrated with this. He has since been limited to living in bed because any movement at all is beyond painful for him and his mental health is next to none because he feels like it's hopeless for him and even when he is literally crying for help, they can't help him.
The usual method of the steroid injections is 4 over the course of a year, but we cannot have him in crippling pain for another 11 months just to get on the waiting list for surgery if the injections don't do anything for him. We are currently trying to get him on the waiting list for the operation which has a 80% success rate and of course comes with risks and everything, but it's the only option we really have to try and give Ryan his quality of life back.
The amount of support from family, friends and people who he may not have been in contact with for many years is overwhelming and we cannot express how grateful we are to have your support. Everyone who suggested that we start this fundraiser and are wanting to donate to help him at this stage in his life, words cannot describe how grateful we are, how much we appreciate it and how overwhelming it truly is.
Ryan has had ongoing issues with sciatica and back pain for the last few years, he had to take time off from work because of these issues. He has now had to come out of work again because his mobility is completely limited to lying in bed or on his reclining chair; he cannot sit, stand, walk, or put any pressure at all onto his left leg.
Because of the current situation with COVID-19, going through the NHS isn't an option; we are so grateful Ryan's family have been paying for him to go private, an MRI (31st October), consultant with a Dr at a private hospital to discuss his results and to discuss possible options, and steroid injections last Monday (30th November).
On the Thursday morning, before his injections upcoming on Monday, Ryan was trying to put his socks on and took a bad turn which left him in horrific pain all weekend. Come the Monday the injections were excruciating and although they say they take a few weeks to fully kick in, we can't see any improvement in fact he has went downhill again since the injection last week.
He seemed to be improving after the injection, by the Friday he was able to sit, walk and stand. His mobility appeared to have improved, but come the next day his pain was increasing again and he was limited to his reclining chair and that night he was back to the same excruciating pain he was in prior to his bad turn the previous week. Ryan was literally screaming and crying in pain all night and into the following day. Neither of us slept, at 6am I tried phoning for an ambulance (as I done the week before) to try and get him help, they couldn't send one out because of the current situation with the pandemic. His parents were able to get an ambulance to our house and we are so grateful for their help and the help of the men who came out to help Ryan and got him to hospital. He spent 8 hours in a short stay ward, 5+ nurses/doctors came to him for him to repeat his situation over and over and in the end they just ended up giving him more of the same medication he has been on and told him to be on his way. During all of this, he was still in the same excruciating pain and crying, they wouldn't even keep him in to try and help him sleep and manage his pain, his family and I were so beyond frustrated with this. He has since been limited to living in bed because any movement at all is beyond painful for him and his mental health is next to none because he feels like it's hopeless for him and even when he is literally crying for help, they can't help him.
The usual method of the steroid injections is 4 over the course of a year, but we cannot have him in crippling pain for another 11 months just to get on the waiting list for surgery if the injections don't do anything for him. We are currently trying to get him on the waiting list for the operation which has a 80% success rate and of course comes with risks and everything, but it's the only option we really have to try and give Ryan his quality of life back.
The amount of support from family, friends and people who he may not have been in contact with for many years is overwhelming and we cannot express how grateful we are to have your support. Everyone who suggested that we start this fundraiser and are wanting to donate to help him at this stage in his life, words cannot describe how grateful we are, how much we appreciate it and how overwhelming it truly is.
Organizer
Becca Spence
Organizer