Bessler is helping John Collins' granddaughter to walk again!

[John Collins]

Some of you are aware of my granddaughter Amy’s poor health through my blog, and have kindly donated to her crowdfund, for which she and the family are very very grateful. With some reluctance I decided I would post some information here on the off-topic thread and hope that no one finds it unacceptable. Despite my doubts I believe that family comes first and Amy needs all the help she can get, and I’m sure you will agree when you read her story.

Amy loved to dance and grew up attending a dance studio in her spare time, from a very young age and progressed successfully through all the exams. She stopped it when she started at Winchester University to study teaching. Amy left Winchester University with a first class honours degree in primary education.  She started her first job at Rugby free primary school. But as she was entering her 3rd year of teaching , in December 2017, something happened that changed Amy's  life dramatically.


From a failed cannula in her left hand, inserted to provide routine treatment for a nasty cough (adult croup) she developed Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) and subsequently Functional Neurological Disease (FND).

Amy has spent the majority of her time since then in hospital, recently in a neurological ward at University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire (UHCW).  She has no use in her left hand and suffers constant pain in that arm, neither can she use her legs.  She is unable to sit unsupported, and suffers from Post Traumatic Distress Disorder (PTSD) too.

UHCW was unable to offer any treatment other than maintaining her general health, but the side effects of her illness have caused her condition to deteriorate and without specialist care would continue to do so.

Following extensive research by everyone in the family it was decided that a new clinic which had opened a couple of years earlier might be able to offer Amy a chance to recover and she was transferred to STEPS Rehabilitation, Sheffield.  It looks as though it will prove to be a turning point in her path towards recovery.  This transfer was made possible by some limited Government funding thanks to huge pressure from Amy's family and her local Member of Parliament.

STEPS provides a very comprehensive treatment regime 7 days a week and Amy is making steady progress. It is clear, however, that this is just the start of a long journey and at over £5000 per week, it certainly isn't cheap.

I started Amy's crowdfunding page to try to raise enough funds to pay for her treatment and it has almost reached its initial target of £40,000. So many people have kindly donated money and we cannot sufficiently express our gratitude, but of course the money raised so far will run out long before Amy's treatment has allowed her to stand by herself and walk again, so we implore all who read this to donate to her fund or share the campaign via your social media accounts.

Our daughter, Jo, (Amy's mother), was diagnosed with cancer (stage 4 non-hodgkins  lymphoma), which resulted in her being in UHCW at the same time as Amy.  After several months of the strongest chemo available and radiation therapy (because she was young enough to survive it!) she emerged thinner, weaker but in remission.  Jo and her husband Dave have devoted themselves to finding the latest information on dealing with Amy's condition, but finding time to visit Amy who is now in Sheffield, about 100 miles away, puts an enormous strain on both of them while they continue to carry on with their demanding jobs.  We (my wife, Sandra and I) try to visit Amy as often as possible but because of her tough regime Amy cannot receive visitors until after seven in the evening.

Oh, I almost forgot. The reason Bessler is helping Amy is because nearly five years ago, she bought a Hungarian Vizsla dog and she decided to call him….Bessler! The reason being that she is the only one in the family who actually believes I can reconstruct Bessler’s wheel. He is allowed to visit Amy at STEPS, from time to time and it’s a great reunion to see!

Any donations no matter how small and/or sharing the web sites with the social media would be very much appreciated.

Here are the links to her web sites, the HelpAmy web site, https://www.helpamy.co.uk/
Amy's crowd funding site https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-our-amy-to-walk-again

Lots of news there with videos and photos of Amy and her family and friends

Thanks to all of you for reading this.

JC

[Silvertiger]

I shared it to Facebook John. Prayers for Amy as well. :)

[John Collins]

Thank you so much. Sharing is as good as donating, and although her story has appeared in a couple of newspapers, it’s so quickly overtaken by the latest news. Today’s news is tomorrow’s fish and chips papers.
Your prayers are gratefully welcomed.

JC

[murilo]

JC, hi!
You can bet: hence Murilo get any day cash... your grand gets guaranty for support!
TRULY!!!
Best wishes!
M

[John Collins]

Thank you Murilo! 👍

JC