For those of you who don’t know and some of you who do, being disabled is an expensive business. Many of the people I know with spinal injury have financial compensation as they had someone else who they could hold accountable for their injury. The stats show that many people become injured in their 20s, as this is the most likely time for adventure and when people believe themselves to be invincible. There are all kinds of reasons people can ‘end up in a wheelchair’, but with accidents causing spinal injury, motorbikes, horse riding, road traffic accidents are amongst the most common factors. Often though, those who are injured in this way end up holding the manufacturer of the vehicle they were riding liable for their physical damage and end up with a compensation claim running into millions of pounds. I am sure most, if not all of these people would cheerfully swap these vast sums of money for an injury free life if this was possible but in the main, spinal injury is still irreversible, despite amazing scientific advances which can often be misleading in the media.
My injury was the result of being hit by a freak wave which knocked me over, hitting my head hard on a sandbank on the bottom of the Indian Ocean. I have vague recollections of this happening and remember it was literally a split second between being a fit, able bodied 23 year old and breaking my neck due to the impact of hitting my head, becoming paralysed for the rest of my life. Writing that even now, it is still hard to get my head around how quickly my whole life changed. I became paralysed immediately and so couldn’t get up from under the water and nearly drowned. I really thought it was game over and just prayed hard that someone had seen what had happened, which they did and my life was saved. I am forever grateful to these people. As a result of this though, I had no-one to sue and my injury was classed as ‘an Act of God’, meaning 0 financial compensation.
The problem is, being a wheelchair user is expensive. The greater the extent of the disability, the more we rely on technology to provide us with maximum independence and flexibility in our lives. Until I became injured, independence was something I just took for granted. From big things to little things, like the ability to use my legs to ‘nip’ to the local shop to buy some milk, to the freedom to just get on a plane and get off the other side. Easy peasy.
As an example, my current chair (which I love!), has a titanium frame (which my husband can pick up with his little finger, it is so light). The wheels have lithium ion batteries in them which assist me when I push. It is a brilliant feit of engineering and design and gives me maximum independence (I got this chair 2 years ago and for all the years I had been injured before then, this was the first time I could cross a road again on my own at the age of 39!) but the total cost is around £7,000. The equivalent of a decent car. We all need a cushion on our chairs to help prevent pressure sores. I have tried many out over the years and have only found one which really works. I have to order it online from America and they slap a hefty amount of import duty on it. This is something I need. Cost is approx £600. I need a new one every 2-3 years. Those 2 things are just for starters. Then there are beds and matresses to consider, shower chairs, vehicles and house adaptations. All crazy money which I will touch on in my next post. This was just to give you a taster.
Thanks for reading folks and remember, your comments are much appreciated!
wheellifeofmine 