Giving Geoff the best possible chance of life

Aim

We are aiming to raise funds to continue Geoff's private therapy to give him the best possible chance of leading a near to normal life

Geoff had a left middle cerebral artery stroke 7 years ago at the age of 48, which left him with a 5% chance of survival.  He had to have his skull removed in order to save his life, in a procedure known as a craniectomy, otherwise, we would've lost him for sure within 2 hours. The black area on the image, is the extent of Geoff's brain damage. The surgery was a success, but he was left critically ill on and off life support for 12 days in critical care. His family were told to hope for the best but expect the worst and that's just how they lived every single day. When Geoff finally came out of critical care, with his family by his side at every possible moment, they told them that he would now be left severely disabled and would have a zero percent chance of any recovery, he was that badly neurologically damaged.  He was left paralysed on his right hand dominant side, with aphasia which is a language and communication disorder affecting his ability to understand and speak language and his ability to read and write.  He has right sided visual field loss, sensory issues on his right side, proprioception issues and inattention issues also.  He was left with a multitude of cognitive issues also.  He was unable to work and neither was his wife, losing two incomes in that split second that stroke rudely stole their present and their future.

He was a young, very fit and healthy man and loved to workout at the gym. He never smoked, didn't have high BP or cholesterol, ate healthily and rarely drank alcohol. He had no warning that his and his family's lives were about to change. We didn't know at the time of the stroke, but Geoff had an undiagnosed hole in the heart and he was later found to have an auto immune condition known as antiphospholipid (sticky blood) syndrome. He is now medicated on Warfarin for the rest of his life, as well as anti seizure medication also. 8 months after having his skull removed, he had to go through another brain surgery procedure known as a cranioplasty to replace the missing skull with a titanium plate.

Over the last 7 years, Geoff's Journey has continued to share their recovery journey on social media, in order to inspire and give hope to others and they are extremely honoured and proud to have saved and changed lives in the process.  Their social media has also helped to fund Geoff's private therapy so far, that he otherwise would never in a million years been able to do.  He has had to learn how to walk and talk and although he does do both, he has been left with weakness in his right hand side and he still cannot communicate anything complex. This private therapy has given Geoff some life back and I dread to think of what would've happened to us if he had not have had those opportunities.  In our peak, we have been able to use our platforms to raise money for charities and individual causes, in order to help others in similar circumstances.  As his wife, I work tirelessly to support not only him, but also the wider population through the awareness we raise every day.  I feel we have changed the face of rehabilitation and rather than decide to feel sorry for the life we now have, we decided to make light of it and turn it into something positive.

Geoff's main ten year goal is to get back behind the wheel - he misses driving and working so so much.  He's always been a grafter and I think this has also been behind his passion and will to recover.  He never sits still!  Unfortunately, he has been left with many cognitive issues also and these need to be worked on through sessions with his private Occupational Therapist.  He does what he can himself - lots of home exercises and he has also started swimming again in the last year - which has been incredible to watch!  He still doesn't really have much function in his hand, but we are hoping with continued guidance from his private OT, we can continue to work on this.

As Geoff's wife, I am one person.  Geoff lost his income and the only income we now have is mine, which over recent years has been extremely unpredictable.  We still earn from social media, but not enough to live and to keep on giving Geoff the opportunities he needs.  In light of this, we have decided to reach out to others in the hope that we can continue to provide Geoff with those opportunities so that he can continue to claw his life back to the best of his ability.  He has continued to prove there is life after stroke and made very single one of his family and followers proud and left them in awe at what he has achieved so far through the opportunities he wouldn't have otherwise had and the sheer strength and determination that he radiates.

I know I am bias, but he really is a complete medical mystery and we just want to give him the best possible opportunities and in the process, share that with the world, so they too can have the best possible opportunities!

Please join us over on our social media Facebook channel Geoff's Journey and Geoffs_journey on Instagram to witness our crazy ride!

Thank you in advance for any donations and any shares to help us.  We appreciate it all so much.  Love always Geoff and Jo xxx

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 19th July 2026 at 2:11pm