Justin was an avid off-road mountain bike rider, regularly cycling around 60 miles cross-country a week. He ate healthily, rarely drank alcohol, and never smoked. After 3 years of trying for a baby, and 3 rounds of IVF, Justin and his wife Angela found out on 8th August 2017 they were expecting identical twins. On 12th August 2017, just 4 days later, he suffered a sudden cardiac arrest, caused by a clot getting stuck in a major artery coming off his heart.

Initially the prognosis was good; he'd had excellent CPR administered immediately, and the "right" paramedic turned up swiftly to administer effective medication and treatment at the scene. He was rushed to hospital and had a stent fitted that evening, and all looked relatively positive.

It soon became apparent that although his heart was now fine, his brain wasn't. When they turned off his sedation 4 days later, he failed to wake up. After 6 hours, his family were told he'd suffered "massive irreversible brain damage", caused by lack of oxygen at the scene; the blood clot had prevented the CPR from being effective. It was suggested that he would never make any sort of recovery. We were told that total paralysis and 24/7 care were the best we could hope for, that he wouldn't regain consciousness. "Everything that makes Justin 'Justin' has gone"...

Well, he's proving them all wrong! Its been almost 6 months since that awful day, and he's doing well. We are learning that recovery from a brain injury is a long, unpredictable road, and there isn't a doctor alive who can give any indication as to what the final destination will be. But we do know that those initial disussions about what he'd "never" be able to do were rubbish.

He is awake, he recognizes his friends and family, and he can talk! His sense of humour is very much alive and well, and his long term memory is mostly OK. There are days where he forgets he's married, or forgets other parts of life, but there are days where he remembers it all. He is learning to walk again with much assistance from physiotherapists, learning to eat food again rather than being fed via the PEG tube directly into his stomach. He can also learn new information; he's learned he's going to be a daddy, that he is having twins, and that they are identical girls! He's also helped to decide on names for them both, and remembers these on a good day too. There are so many positives now!

However, things are about to get harder for Justin and his family. The rehab centre he's at currently have reached the limit of what they can do for him cognitively. Physically he's coming along well, but it's the short term memory, understanding and emotional side of things that he needs further help with. There are days where he gets so distressed he needs to be sedated. His short term memory is so poor on some days, that he can ask the same question 3 times in a minute, and repeat this for 12 hours solid. He doesn't always understand why he's there, thinks theres nothing wrong, and gets upset he can't come home yet. We need to address all these issues and more if he is to have any chance of eventually coming home and being a family with his wife and twins as he always wanted to.

So, it looks as through Justin will soon be moving to a specialist rehab centre around an hour and a half's drive away from his family...right around the time his twins are due to make their way into the world. Hopefully the outcome will be worth the stress and upheaval caused to him by moving.

We are trying to raise funds to help with the following;

Fund the cost of travel for the family to visit Justin on a regular basis, To fund a wheelchair accessible car so we can take him for days out more easily, To fund specialist HBOT treatments not covered by the NHS which may help him improve more, and to help with the cost of bringing up his twins until his wife Angela can go back to work. (Having lost both Justin's income, and Angela's in just a few short months, preparing for the arrival of twins has caused added financial stress)

Anything you can donate to this wonderful, determined, stubborn, funny man and his baby girls would be received most gratefully. Thank you for reading his story.