Nathan & The Extension

As the event manager for Nathan I sometimes think that people think that now he his home from hospital everything has been done and his care is just spot on. I thought after seeing a Facebook post from Naomi, that I would tell you some of the on going things and challenges for Nathan and the family.

With planning permission passed and quotes now starting to come in the family are looking at around £45,000 for the extension that will give Nathan his own bedroom, wetroom and living area, then they need the lift to get Nathan between the floors which is going to be around £17,000, also the specialist kitchen with units that will enable Nathan to be able to make himself something to eat and drink without having to wait for someone to do this for him.

This extension is not going to be a quick fix and fast build and until this is done, then Nathan will continue to live in the dinning room with no wet room unless the family drive him to his grans house and give him a shower there.

Access in and out of the house isn't even easy, Nathan can't enter or leave the house without someone being there to help him, by opening the door and putting a metal sheet over the door threshold so that Nathan can then get over this. This metal sheet wasn't provided by anyone, it had to be made by Matt at work just so they could get Nathan in and out of the house without injuring themselves.

Nathan needs a chair so that he is not sat in his wheelchair all the time when he is out of bed, but due to the nature of his injury, this can't be just any chair, it needs to be a specialist bespoke made chair to suit Nathan and is currently being made, but at a cost of around £4,000. This has taken some work with Richard Benson from Richards Residential Supplies of Colne who has spent time with Nathan to get this just right for him.

Health wise Nathan suffers from lots of complications with regards having to be sat in his wheelchair or laid in his bed, and although he has carers and districts nurses coming in to see him at least twice a day. He still suffers from bad days and infections alongside the normal colds and upset stomachs we all get. But with Nathan the smallest thing can set off Autonomic dysreflexia (AD) which if not treated very quickly is life threatening. The family have to carry around a GTN  spray just in case he starts going into AD.

I would ask you if you could cope with this on a day to day basis? This amazing young man and his family do and don't complain at all.