Hi Folks

Here’s a wonderful photo slideshow put together by Pete, Mike’s brother. It put a tear in my eye and a HUGE smile on my face

Enjoy

Hi Folks

Mike had his 36th Birthday Celebration yesterday at Royal Talbot. By the looks of the photos, everyone certainly had a great time. Check out the photos here.



Thanks to Jo Mortimore for providing the photos.

Hello all, nice to be online after plenty of time well and truly out of action. I posted a message through my lovely wife Moni a week or so ago stating I would post a message myself when I could do it myself and here it is via voice recognition software. Typing is to come – I tried it today and it does not look too far away.

I am now settled in to the rehabilitation centre and am underway with physiotherapy and occupational therapy. I can eat a little bit myself but I must admit it is a real circus act – please enjoy the video that we’ve attached of my first meal. (see embedded video at bottom of post) I’ve also been playing with Ashley and because she’s three years old our drawings are very similar. I’ve also attached my first drawing done completely with my left shoulder. It is of course of no one else other than Humpty Dumpty. Humpty is a standing joke between Ashley and I. It is the first thing she learned to draw herself. I also attempted to sign the drawing but self-admittedly my signature is very ordinary.

My very original interpretation of Humpty


I want to thank you for your support and your feedback and responses on the website has been overwhelming and certainly helped me get to this point. I’ve enjoyed reading from various people everyday including some lovely surprise guests as well as regular responses from wonderful friends and family.

A few people have been in to visit recently and have asked a few questions about the accident. I hadn’t wanted to put any details up until I had dealt with it mentally and could post the message myself. Whilst on a training ride on Beach Rd, I was hit by a vehicle. This forced me out of control. In front of me was a parked vehicle and I hit it rendering me unconscious and causing my broken neck.

I am thrilled to be back online and able to communicate with this wonderful world. I look forward to posting more messages as my skills and stamina improved by the day thank you all.

Regards,

Forbesy

Check out my fork skills

Hi Crew,
well, the man is on the mend. Slowly but surely. We visited Mike again yesterday in the spinal ward of the Austin, where he has a little way to go yet before he can get to the rehab ward.

Physical

Mike has his trachy out, which is a step in the right direction for getting to rehab. Unfortunately, he is having an issue with his swallow, which means he will be delayed in the spinal unit until they can get to the bottom of this problem. The nerves controlling swallowing and it’s co-ordination emanate from much higher than Mike had damaged in his accident (they come from the brainstem, and are called cranial nerves). You’ll notice that his voice has a slight hoarseness and changed character when you visit him. This should resolve with time, along with the swallow. The nerves which control swallowing may have been bruised during the surgery which fixed the bony damage to his neck. Mike has a speech therapist helping him with his swallow, and they’re doing all sorts of weird and wonderful investigations like passing a camera into the back of his throat to watch the muscles work! Lucky Mike!

In the meantime, he’s working on a whole lot of other aspects of his recovery- physiotherapy especially. You can read in the other updates the fun and games he’s had trying to control a wheelchair with an unseen and unfeeling hand. He is using the muscles of his shoulder to control the chair through his hand being strapped to a cradle. Mike reports the concentration required for this fine control to be difficult and exhausting! At this stage, he has movement of his biceps, but without the triceps to help counter that muscle he has problems placing his hand where he wants to. The analogous stage for Mike at the minute is learning to change gears- he’s got all the gross motor control to move a gear stick, but has to learn to be smooth to change gears without grinding them! It’s a frustrating time- but he’s got the motivation and courage of a lion.

Additionally Mike has been trying to sleep in a hard collar and unable to have his bed head raised above 45 degrees without said collar. These collars are very uncomfortable, but it may be the case that he can do without in the near future (according to Mike). I’m not sure if that was wishful thinking or a near reality, if there is a cracked bone high in his neck to protect, it may be a few more weeks with the collar to come.

(continue reading…)

Thanks to Jo Mortimore for sending through these photos of Mike and the family. Click the images to see larger versions.