I will never forget the time, a few years ago now, that I sat with a couple and had a cuppa and a chat with them. He was the one who’d had the accident, and he was adjusting well – this was his new normal and he was just getting on with it. She kept saying all the right things too – was very encouraging of his plans and supportive of his needs.

When he left us to go to physio, I asked her how she was really doing … and she began to quietly cry. She wasn’t doing as well as she projected. She ‘confessed’ that she was struggling … “This isn’t the future I signed up for – I’m feeling lost. I don’t want to hurt him, but I don’t know what I’m feeling …”

Wow.

It struck me again that a Spinal Cord Impairment – especially one that comes out of the blue – was not only carried by the individual, but their partner in life and their whānau. The specialists, nurses, physios, OTs, psychologists … all the medical team do a spectacular job of supporting the patient. Everyone’s supporting the patient but who’s supporting the wife, husband, partner, children, parents … the family?

In the last few years, we’ve introduced Whānau Support – both in the Unit and in the Community – and it’s been a real success … but could we do more? Well – the team and I think we can. Here’s what we’re thinking – a programme that helps couples and families to develop skills to get through the early days of getting home, and carry on into their future.

YOUR support of this programme in the form of a donation is what will make this possible. And even better – if you donate to this appeal before 11 th May then our friends at Permobil NZ will match your donation, dollar for dollar, to ensure we have a solid financial foundation to build this programme from. It’s exciting to know we’ll have the opportunity to create this from scratch, designed specifically around what we believe our community will find useful. And also to know
that it’s that same community that’s supporting us to do this.