Please Help Shaun's rehabilitation from Severe Brain Injury for him to become self sufficient

My Name is Shaun James - this is my abbreviated story.

Please see my Facebook page AQUAPONICSNATURALLYPURE for more details on my accident, recovery and Aquaponics!

In 2010 I was a contractor and in the building game, it was a couple of weeks from Christmas and I was a happy chappy, everything was going good, a lovely wife and two awesome sons.

The boss I was contracted to at the time, invited me and a couple of the other contractors on a jet boat ride up the Waimakariri - on the way back we hit a rock and the three of us were thrown out. The two other guys received broken bones etc, and spent time in hospital, but unfortunately for me I went head first into a rock, and when the paramedics arrived they initially thought I was dead.

When mum and my wife Lynne got to the hospital the surgeon told them that I had a 15% chance of surviving and it wasn't looking good. I had a extremely Severe head injury, along with a long list of other injuries.

It was real hard for my sons as they were only 11 and 13 at the time. To see their dad unconscious and full of tubes with his head shaved and 52 staples in his head.... can't have been good. I love my wife and I'm sorry for all the struggle she's been through with me, plus having to work and bring up the boys all at the same time.

We have been encouraged by friends and family to set up this "Give a Little Page" and they are assisting me with this.

As I am on a minimum ACC payment each week and my wife is a hairdresser 4 - 5 days a week we are just getting by. I have had to sell my boat that I worked and saved up for all my life to pay off our bills etc.

My family has had to go through a lot since my accident, and have had to put up with my mood swings which is a result of the brain injury.

I am not allowed to drive a car because I have lost my peripheral vision which means I can't see to the right of me which is weird as it was the left side of me that got mostly hurt. So I am reliant on others to drive me.

When I concentrate on something my left eye starts to water, I have tried jogging down to the park as I don't have to cross the road, but my eye waters a great deal when jogging.

I don't walk to the supermarket if I can help it, as I don't see a car coming to the right of me, even though I do check before I cross, I think it is clear but on a few occasions I get a big fright as horns honk or I have to jump backwards so I don't get hit.

The option of my being employed is not possible due to my ongoing issues I am also required to sleep a couple of hours each afternoon.

During my long and difficult rehabilitation a friend introduced me to the concept of Aquaponics, and kept talking to me about this a lot to give me something else to focus on, and I became excited with the prospect of this is something I could do..

Aquaponics is sort of like Hydroponics, but the good thing about Aquaponics is that you have fish in a fish tank that supply's water to the vegetables with nutrients instead of chemicals like Hydroponics.

My goal is to be able to care for my family, in two ways:

1. Providing fresh, healthy food

2. Become financially independent by establishing a home based Aquaponics business, so I can come off the benefit and continue to improve my health, whilst doing something very positive and worthwhile.

But getting to the point, as I've gone on a bit, I was looking to raise enough money to build a 10m x 6m greenhouse on my back yard.

Then fit it out with a big water tank to house the fish then pipe water into and out of the grow troughs with water pumps and all the other bits and pieces to make it grow nice fresh vegetables in half the time as conventional growing and no chemicals.

Once I have brought all the equipment and greenhouse, ongoing purchases will just be fish food and seeds.

We will sell the produce through Farmers markets, Restaurants and Online.

I know I can't get back to how I was prior to my accident, but having a goal with Aquaponics is going to be a big step forward for me. I can't wait for the day for people to come back for more vegetables and strawberries with a big smile on their face because they are the best they have ever tasted!

In a couple of years I would love to be in a position of helping and showing other nice people in New Zealand how to do it for themselves, as a way of giving back.

So to finish I would just like to say thank you for taking the time to read my story and particularly for any financial contribution you may choose to make to help me out a little that would be greatly appreciated.

Shaun James

Kaiapoi NZ