Catherine Davies dreams of hugging her son again, but she is left paralyzed from the neck down due to a catastrophic accident. She relies on carers and an 'eye-gaze' machine for communication, as she can no longer eat, drink, or breathe on her own.
There is nothing Catherine Davies longs for more in the world than to hug her son. She desperately wishes she could hold him close, bury her nose in his soft blond hair and breathe him in – that familiar smell of last night's shampoo and muddy grass after rugby practice.
She has a team of round-the-clock carers to dress, wash and change her and, due to damage to her vocal cords in the accident, uses an 'eye-gaze' machine to communicate. This week, the driver of the car, 19-year-old George Taylor, who had held his licence for less than 12 weeks when he crashed into Catherine's stationary car at a junction in East Tuddenham, Norfolk, was jailed for just two years and two months.'He took my whole life away and left me in a living nightmare,' says the mother-of-one, 51, a former fitness instructor, through the technology she must now rely on to make herself heard.
'I was overwhelmed by extreme anxiety, consumed by what I'd lost and what was facing me. It was like mourning your own death.' 'I was an early riser, as my days were so full, working full-time and running evening fitness classes as well as looking after my son for half the week. I've always been an energetic and sociable person.'
'We would go on walks, visit the beach and meet up with friends who had children of a similar age. My life was wonderful and going in the right direction.' Having admitted causing serious injury by dangerous driving, Taylor told Norwich Crown Court this week that he didn't see Catherine's car stopped in front of him at the junction.
'I don't recall the first few weeks, as I was not conscious,' Catherine explains now. 'My injuries were so serious that my family had been told I may not survive. She found herself hooked up to all sorts of machines, breathing through a ventilator and unable to feel anything beyond the tops of her shoulders.
Hundreds of miles from her family, who are in Devon – her mother died several years ago but her father lives there with his second wife and her daughter – she began to feel scared. More funding has come from a civil compensation claim, which has, to date, paid privately for a psychologist, occupational therapist, speech and language therapy, physiotherapy and a personal case manager, who supports Catherine every day.
'The adaptations have included changing the bathroom to a wet room, having a hoist and ceiling track fitted so that I can be transferred from my bedroom to the bathroom, and having level-access patio doors and decking fitted so I can easily access the back garden,' she explains. A team of eight carers supports Catherine round the clock with every aspect of her daily routine. 'It takes several hours for me to be got up, toileted and washed,' she explains. 'I am fed through a tube I can take a few teaspoons of water or coffee.
Today, her head resting on a pillow in her wheelchair, Catherine is no less beautiful, her long blonde hair neatly brushed, her cream blouse and trousers elegant and stylish.
Accident Paralysis Mother Son Communication Carers
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