A family have launched a campaign to bring their husband and father, John Lindsay, home after an epileptic seizure has left him stuck in a care home.
Last August the life of John and that of his family was changed after he suffered the seizure at his home in Silksworth after a family day out.
John, 45, fell down his stairs, hitting his head and causing an instant fracture in his neck.
The father of two, who is now in a care home in Peterlee, was taken to Newcastle RVI where they instantly secured the break. He was later transferred to James Cook university hospital in Middlesbrough where he was in intensive care.
Doctors and the Lindsay family feared that he would be paralysed from the neck down as he was only able to communicate by blinking.
Since his accident John’s mobility has continued to improve, though he is paralysed from the waist down and needs a wheelchair.
Wife, Claire, 38 said: “He has had to learn to feed himself again and does need a ventilator to help him breathe at night. His seizures are still present.”
£300,000 needs to be raised for an adapted bungalow as the family home is not adaptable for John to live in due to a front step leading to the front door.
The door frames are also too low, with no space for the equipment John now needs.
“I have a daughter and a husband to think about, it’s just not an option.”
John’s safety has been a big risk for the family for over ten years now, after he first fell ill with flu like symptoms in 2006.
His wife said: “He collapsed at home and had a big seizure out of the blue.
“He was a really hardworking man who was always at work.”
John was rushed to Sunderland Royal Hospital where doctors didn’t understand the full extent of what was happening to him. He was then taken into intensive care and induced into a coma because his seizures began to worsen. After two and a half weeks doctors slowly began to bring John out of his coma.
The family were told to expect the worst.
John came out of the coma but did have brain damage. This affected his memories seven years leading up to him being ill.
Claire added: “John forgot that I was pregnant at the time and that we were planning to get married. John had to learn everything all over again.”
“When John finally came home I had a new born baby. We had to learn to live and he continued to improve, although his epilepsy was still massively uncontrolled.”
The couple got married in 2009 but John continued to have seizures leading up to his major accident.