Surfing Spinal Cord Injury, help Johnny get back on his feet

Not only did Johnny suffer a paralysing spinal cord injury (whilst surfing D-bar) that cost him the use of his legs, cut his career as a builder abruptly short and shattered so many of he and his fiancé Charlies hopes and dreams but they find themselves in an extremely unique and equally devastating financial position trying to personally afford all of the costs involved with this traumatic and devastating diagnosis.

Originally from NZ Johnny and Charlie have been in Australia working for too many years to receive any sort of funding assistance from the NZ Government but they haven't been in Australia long enough to become citizens yet or to qualify for the Australian NDIS health system which would usually help out when someone suffers a spinal cord injury.

My name is Brooke and my son suffered a spinal cord injury a couple of years ago so we are living through that experience and I know first hand the exorbitant costs involved, only we have been able to obtain NDIS funding assistance to help us with some of the costs. If you've never had anything to do with spinal cord injury I can assure you the costs are many and varying. For example just cathedars alone can cost around $20,000 a year for one life saving piece of medical equipment a spinal cord patient can't live without daily. This doesn't take into account ANY of the other things that are necessary parts of daily life or things that improve independence or help a spinal cord injury patient to re-access the community like lightweight wheelchairs, electric assist devices to help save shoulders, specialised beds, slide boards and equipment in the home, day to day medical requirements, beach wheelchairs, vehicle modifications and the list goes on!

Over and above all the necessary equipment and medical supplies involved with a spinal cord injury comes the rehab and therapy required to help gain independence again and to give the patient the best chance of great outcomes and returns in their body below the level of their injury. Charlie and Johnny have currently been haemorrhaging what money they do have trying to get Johnny as much therapy as possible within their limited means.

I know that each and every one of you reading this, just like me, would want the absolute best for your loved ones also.

When Johnny left hospital, staff managed to pool together some funds to get Johnny a starter wheelchair which he doesn't actually own and pretty much kicked them out the door. Because they had no access to NDIS or accessible housing Charlie had to find their own private rental that wasn't accessible but that they could make work and they are currently paying through the roof for that accommodation.

Charlie has been running on adrenalin for the last 12 months since Johnny's injury trying to be the backbone of this recovery, holding Johnny up, advocating for him daily, getting him to and from all of his appointments, being his 24 hour carer on top of attemtping to work some kind of hours to attempt to support the two of them. Neither of them have any independence as Johnny is fully reliant on Charlie. Usually with a spinal cord injury there is funding provided for support workers to come in and assist to alleviate that pressure on loves ones but these guys find themselves with zero help.

Ive started this gofundme because this situation is far from over for these two. Having lived experience in this I know they're just not going to survive this without some help. My first goal is to help them get a car with hand control modifications so that Johnny can get some form of independence back, he can get himself to and from his appointments and eventually post rehab get himself some form of new employment. This will also give Charlie the opportunity to get back to work full time to help them both financially and to give them some time away from each other helping their relationship to survive this trauma. My hope is also that we would raise some funds for continued therapy for Johnny, wheelchairs and equipment, IVF to give these guys the opportunity to have children of their own one day, (without going into it too deeply they have been made aware that time is of the essence for this and it breaks my heart to think they they would have the dream of children stolen from them along with what they have already had taken from them, so they will need to look into this asap) and there are a multitude of other things they are in need of also.

With the cost of everything Johnny and Charlie are going through trying to afford basic medical supplies, equipment and therapy the chance of them being able to afford these additional life changing things is really slim and honestly could be years away so they need our help. Financial pressure on top of what these guys are dealing with just isn't fair not is it going to be over any time soon.

As we all know mental health is so important and the situation these guys find themselves in , in my opinion is not only dire but extremely heartbreaking. I'd like to think that as a community and as human beings that when we see someone doing it really tough that we would be able to band together to help build them back up. So I would implore you to please help me to help Johnny and Charlie. I guarantee that you will be changing their lives, that they will not let you down because that's not the kind of people they are.

Thank you for considering to help me to help these beautiful humans.

Please continue to send your love and prayers to these guys because they truly do deserve it and continue to believe with us for full restoration to Johnny's legs and an incredible future for these guys xx