Support for Carolyn and Doug

Friends, love, laughter, light, sunshine, freedom and good times..... the essence of LIFE.

In June 2016, through “medical misadventure", Carolyn had 5 out of 7 of these important components of life needlessly taken away from her.

Instead of living, she is currently "existing". As friends, we're providing as much love & support as we can, however we're also wanting to help her a little more... ideally with some funding to pay for the extra care & support that she currently needs.

Having graduated from Massey University in 1999 with a Veterinary degree, Carolyn excelled in her profession until, in 2006, a freak horse riding accident in the UK, left her with tetraplegia, unable to move from the neck down.

With sheer determination, strength, positive thinking and the support of her husband Doug, Carolyn astounded us all with her recovery, regaining an extraordinary level of independence, given the nature of her injuries, requiring minimal carer assistance during the day.

Within hours of receiving a medical manipulation treatment on 8th June 2016, all that changed... From living a life of reasonable independence (being up and about all day, working from home, driving a wheelchair adapted car, doing post-grad studies, socialising, travelling, gardening, cooking, shopping, transferring herself in/out of bed, showering and toileting alone, partaking in riding for the disabled and making future plans for parenthood with Doug), Carolyn was once again incapacitated, only this time with associated unbearable pain.

Through no fault of her own, this treatment injury resulted in potentially permanent nerve damage in her lower spine. This left Carolyn needing 24 hour care, virtually unable to leave the house, experiencing continuous severe pain in her lower back, buttock and leg, with any slight jolt or movement causing additional shooting pain. It also affected her sensation and bowel function, restricting her to 2-3 hrs in her chair at a time and needing to spend a lot of time in bed to try to manage the pain.

6 weeks ago, ACC withdrew it's funding for her 24hr care and support, and the Ministry of Health said it could not provide enough care for her to be safely at home. So Carolyn is currently stranded (literally) in hospital, in a shared ward. The majority of her days are spent lying down, with nurses or carers turning her from her side to her back and reaching for anything that she needs. While the District Health Board debates its ability to provide the additional level of care that she requires to allow her to be back in her own home, Carolyn has no idea how long she will remain in hospital. Various specialists that she has seen have not been able to provide definite answers, effective treatment or any promise of improvement. With potential further surgeries/investigations on the horizon, she requires a number of medications to get through each day, but they do not block much of the pain. Unsurprisingly, this situation causes enormous stress to Carolyn and Doug.

In order to help bring some laughter, light, sunshine, freedom and good times back into Carolyn and Doug's life, to remind them of all of your love and support, we've set up this give a little page to collect donations