Project aim
Let's get an awesome chap and awesome leg!
About the project
When we moved to Hooe 18 months ago we couldn't have chosen better neighbours than the James's. Stuart, Wendy and their 3 beautiful children Jacob, Lauren and Lexie have become good friends and will do anything they can to help anybody out.
As most of you may be aware, on the 25th of July 2014 Stuart fell from a ladder while preparing the garden for the arrival of a bouncy castle for the children they professionally child mind. Stuart was rushed to hospital with a compound fracture. After a lengthy hospital stay Stuart was finally allowed home with multiple pins inserted into his leg and a framework that would put professional scaffolders to shame....
We barely noticed Stuart was home, his leg was so painful that he didn't go out for fear of knocking it , he was on strong doses of painkillers and had no idea how long he was going to be in this situation. The doctor told him it would take as long as it took.....
I think it was at this point, 2/3 months down the line it hit me how significantly the whole family dynamics had changed. Simple things like family outings, collections and drop off's for the children, mowing the lawn, fixing the broken fridge ( Wendy and I did try! We really did!) helping with the school runs and most importantly being able to work, were affected. Everything had to be adapted around the rest and recovery of Stuarts broken leg.
But, throughout it all, it amazed me how little it phased them as a family, Stuart was always smiling and joking, Wendy battled through every problem like a trooper and the children remained as fun loving as I had always known them to be. They were most certainly NOT going to let this get them down!
Time ticked on, and with countless admittances to hospital for infections, many many operations, excruciating pain and discomfort and eventually a lengthy hospital stay, the family agreed with the doctors that the best thing to do would be to amputate Stuart's leg, from below the knee.
All in all the family have endured a pretty challenging 8 months. They have had to make lots of changes to the way they live and how they continue their day to day life. But one thing remains unchanged. Stuart is still the same person I met 18 months ago. Friendly, kind, a tremendous sense of humour and a gigantic heart. He would do anything for anyone........
Which is why I would like your help, to do something amazing for him in return.
As you can imagine, the NHS will provide Stuart with a prosthetic leg. But, it will be a basic leg. Not the most comfortable and easy to use compared to some that can be funded privately. There are legs that are specifically designed to be more supportive and make learning to walk again easier and more comfortable. There are also legs designed for those whom are quite athletic, known as cheetah's. The leg choice will, of course be down to Stuart but i feel certain he will want to try out the cheetah..(wink, wink Stuart....!)
We wanted Stuart to know we were there to help him if we could, but until now were unsure how to do this. Baking cakes for him every week wasn't going to do him any favours (or his new leg for that matter!) So we have set up this crowd funding site.
If you would like to donate towards a better leg for Stuart and to show him your thinking about him, then it would be gratefully received.
Kind Regards
The Stuart James fan club xxxx
