Help make Pete complete again.

Our brilliant friend Peter is recovering from a terrible bicycle accident he had in October 2014. He suffered traumatic brain injury (TBI) which has left him with severe brain damage. Peter is 36 years old. He needs your help to continue his rehabilitation, which is in danger of stopping because there are no funds to continue it. A group of friends created this campaign to help support his parents with the costs for his treatments.  

We would like to share with you the detailed story:

In October 2014, Peter attended the concert of his favorite guitar player, Omar Rodriguez, in Amsterdam. After the concert Peter cycled home with his girlfriend when suddenly a scooter came towards him, on the wrong side of the road, hitting Peter as he passed. Peter fell off his bike and landed on his head. He instantly went into a coma and was taken to the emergency for hours of surgery. Doctors informed us that Peter was likely to not make it. Peter was in a coma for another week. On the 8th day Peter woke up, however, he did not know who he was, or anyone around him and he could not speak or react to anything.  After another 4 weeks, he was moved to another unit, as to the surprise of the medical team it seemed that he would survive. But he was still not able to speak or understand anything at this point.

He continued to be in this state until in December 2014, it was decided that he could be moved to a rehabilitation center. He stayed there for 6 months, making very slow progress, receiving physio, psychological, occupational, speech and cognitive therapy.  After 6 months, the rehabilitation center decided that they could not help him any longer and that they would move him to a home in The Hague, the Netherlands, where he would be looked after but would not receive any therapy, thus would not progress any further. His parents decided that this was not acceptable, as they know what Peter is capable of and that he was making progress in the rehab, contrary to what the specialists had predicted.

Peter was moved to a rehabilitation place in Malta, where the family lives. They put together a team of professionals to continue Pete’s rehabilitation. The rehab is very costly, but it was worth it and has now paid off: after two years, he has learned to walk again, can hold a normal conversation and attend to the most important thing in his life: playing the guitar. Unfortunately his short term memory – though better than before - is still weak. His physical abilities are better, but he continues to struggle with his balance when standing up or walking. He is not able to work in his job at the Subway Amsterdam office that he enjoyed so much but his ultimate goal of returning to his job and his previous life keeps him fighting. We believe that in another year’s time with rehab and care, Peter will be able to work again. It was no longer possible to cover the high costs of the rehabilitation centre, and he had to move out. Although he now lives in his own apartment, he still requires 24/7 supervision as his memory loss means he forgets where in his day he is and so needs reminding what he is doing. All this and his therapy come at a cost.

Peter’s insurance claim has not yet been settled, as he resides in a different country. Peter’s family, and friends have also helped cover some of the expenses. Currently there is no money left and Peter’s treatment is in danger of stopping. All experts tell us that without any treatment he will make several steps back, which means that all the efforts over the past 2.5 years will be for nothing, leaving Peter without a life to lead and with his parents looking after him without any specialized treatment.

 
We are so close - help make Pete complete again.