What’s in the box? Why chocolate birthday cake of course! With blue ribbon tied round it. I wish I had baked it myself but it was delicious and made John’s birthday. He is partially sighted (from birth) and now C2 Quadrepligic and was bed ridden at the time (due to previous bedsore breakdowns from not being turned enough. Legal advice sought) He can sit up for a few hours a day now which is great! Aren’t birthdays fun!

Take care of yourself and family
and thank you for a wonderful website. When I was lost I found myself by chance here and it made me feel that at last people who know how it really is. It was very comforting. I told John about it but at the moment he has not been using his commputer via his carers as they are not allowed to do that unless they want to or something to that effect. I am not sure as John never tells me anything except “I’m alright!” And his positive thinking is seeing him get stronger. I particularly love the physio team who put him on a quad bike at the Nursing home and standing table and work his arms with some sort of machine. For the most part John is on this journey alone as he rarely gets visitors and we still have the Town (where I live) and City situation where he lives. The snow presently has disrupted railway lines and bus routes so I really need to find the courage to get behind the wheel again of a car since I was a front seat passenger in a head on collision two decades ago. Seeing Johns determination to try his best I feel ashamed I don’t have similar drive. I also can’t believe I didn’t break any bones in that accident (hairline fractures) despite 4 cars being written off. I still feel constant pain, albeit manageable with paracetomal and yet my younger brother John fell off a chair (office type with wheels) and breaks his neck! Life isn’t fair and a lottery in my opinion and I just hope one day Science continues to have breakthroughs and God is watching and helping.

Kindest regards
Andrea

Kyla, you can ask anything quadriplegic here, or start a post in our forum if you like.

best regards
Andrea

Thought I would leave a photo (the first ever) of John and myself last Christmas. It will be his fifth year of tetraplegia at C2 since his fall in July 2007. He lost everything, his home, his former life, his friends and his family (most of us) but he has one thing, his mind and for that I am truly grateful. He regained his voice after six months in intensive care (which was thought would not happen) and since then we talk everyday on the phone. I wish I could visit more often but he is the countryside and I live in the town. I cannot move there but I follow his progress. He has progressed to the electric bike and standing table in Physio. All these things we didn’t think possible as he was bedridden for many years due to his bedsores on his spine he got in intensive care because they couldn’t move him due to heart attacks he was getting …but God is good. I still believe one day technology and God will find ways to help all stages of spinal cord injury. I think in this century this will happen. Especially with the recent breakthroughs and tireless scientific research. There’s hope.

Andrea.