Mobility Vehicle for Richard Broadhead

Dear All,

I urgently need your help for a friend in need please.

You may not know Richard Broadhead personally, but I am sure you, or your children have been influenced by him, or his history work, at some stage in your life.

Richard is a REME veteran and after being medically discharged, changed careers and found his niche as a military author and historian as well as a Battlefield Tour Guide. He recently achieved a Masters in the History of Britain and the First World War. He is one of the foremost experts on the First World War, in Wiltshire and has written many books on the 10,000+ soldiers killed in the First World War who were connected with Wiltshire.

His books include:

• The Great War - Calne District Soldiers

• The Great War - Devizes District Soldiers

• The Great War - Chippenham Soldiers

• The Great War - Trowbridge Soldiers

• Salisbury Soldiers: The Great War

• The Great War. Messines to Passchendaele 1917

• The Great War, Wiltshire Soldiers: The Somme 1916

Richard was struck down with a mystery, but severe, illness in December 2022; eventually this was diagnosed as Multi-system Inflammatory Syndrome in Adults which was further complicated by Guillain-Barré syndrome and multiple organ failure.

He spent 5 months in the CCU, then 2 months on a ward, of the Great Western Hospital in Swindon before being transferred to a neurological rehabilitation unit in Gloucester, where he has been since July 2023. The illness is so rare that there is no known cure or long-term prognosis, and when he left GWH we were told that whilst he was completely cognitively aware we should not expect much, if any, physical improvement.

However, whilst Richard is currently unable to move below his shoulders and has a tracheostomy which limits any talking, he is starting to demonstrate the tiniest of physical improvements which continue to motivate him to do more.

One of the things he needs to do, and enjoys, is trips out of the confines of the rehabilitation unit to places he is interested in and that enable him to use his extensive history knowledge. However, the unit provide only limited opportunity for trips out that are of interest to Richard. His friends and family would like to take him out to places of interest to Richard but due to his medical complications we need a specially adapted high vehicle suitable to take Richard, his 24/7 carers and family. We have been successful in taking him to watch the Army Vs RAF Rugby at Kingsholm Stadium and to the Soldiers of Gloucestershire Museum, but he needs to get out more. However, having to hire a specially adapted vehicle is a logistic nightmare and prohibitively expensive.

I really need all the help, support and money you can give to help his family of Anita, Jack and Tom raise the money for a vehicle that can transport him and his wheelchair on days out, as he needs intellectual stimulation and a chance to avoid becoming institutionalised.

I am sure you will join me in raising the funds and I ask you to give generously, whatever amount you can. Please visit - https://gofund.me/c23968e8 and donate any amount, however small that you can afford.

If we raise more than the target any additional funds will be used for Tax, Insurance and running costs for the vehicle.

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Jon