Family backs a better future (From Witney Gazette)

Family backs a better future

9:00am Wednesday 15th March 2006 in Witney By Victoria Owen

THE mother of a ten-year-old boy who was seriously injured in a cycling accident has welcomed plans for the Oxford Children's Hospital.

Colleen Wilson, 47, of Church Walk, Combe, spent four months at her son Joel's bedside at the John Radcliffe Hospital after he suffered massive brain injuries following a collision with a car.

As a result, she and her husband Paul, 47, understand how important the dedicated 106-bed unit will be when it opens early next year. She said: "The accommodation is poor at the moment, and because Joel was still in a coma at the beginning we had to be with him all the time just in case he woke up.

"I ended up sleeping on a mattress by his bedside. It was very cramped and needs to be improved.

"At the moment, the JR paediatric wards are very dowdy, but once they get everything new it will look and feel 100 per cent better than it is now and the staff need it. It will enhance what is already a really great service."

Joel, who has four older siblings, Jason, 22, Josh, 19, Jessica, 16, and Jacob, 13, was eight when he was involved in the road accident in October 2003.

He was taken to casualty at the JR, before having a major operation which left him on a ventilator in intensive care for five days. He was still in a coma when he moved to the children's ward, 4C, and did not come round until November.

Although he was allowed home for a few days at Christmas, the Cokethorpe School pupil was not formally discharged until the end of January 2004, when he was transferred to The Children's Trust in Surrey for six months of intensive rehabilitation.

Although Joel still finds it difficult to speak and walk, and has lost co-ordination in his right side, he is making good progress, and has speech therapy, occupational therapy and physiotherapy at Witney Community Hospital.

Mrs Wilson, a practice manager at her husband's dental surgery, said: "They didn't know if he would make it, because he had severe head injuries. They told us the first 72 hours would be critical.

"We didn't know if he was going to live or not, but he's such a fighter and proved everyone wrong. The staff were so supportive and when we were upset they just sat us down and explained what was happening.

"The Children's Hospital will be a service for everyone in the future. You just don't know when you will need to use it for us, it came right out of the blue."