​Co Down mum Natalie's plea for 'life-changing' wheelchair for disabled daughter Natasha

Natalie Hampton's daughter, Natasha, underwent spinal surgery in September, 2019 which didn't go to plan, resulting in a spinal cord injury leaving the 16-year-old with a life-threatening condition called Autonomic Dysreflexia.

As well as this, Natasha has seizures, a non-functioning gut, and incomplete paralysis requiring catheterising and extensive bowel management.

Natalie, from Ballygowan, said: “Natasha had complex needs (before the surgery), but they weren’t that demanding. I didn’t need any care package for Natasha prior to that – she lived a pretty normal life with me and her wee brother and no matter where we were, Natasha was with us. She was non-verbal and she was in a wheelchair, she had two feeds twice a day and was medicated twice a day.

“During the spinal surgery Natasha’s spinal chord had got nicked during the procedure and left her with a spinal chord injury.”

Due to her condition, Natalie said Natasha has essentially been housebound for the past four years and requires repositioning every two hours, as she is unable to sit in her current wheelchair for any longer than this at one time.

As such, the family has been restricted when leaving home, which has had an impact on all the family, including Natasha’s younger brother Reuben,13, who often has to miss out on activities.

Now, the family has put together a fundraiser to get Natasha a wheelchair that will enable her to leave the house for longer than two hours at a time and spend some time with family and friends outside the home.

Natalie said the wheelchair would be “completely life-changing”.

"We would be able to get Natasha out of the house as she has been housebound for the past four years following her spinal surgery," said Natalie.

"She had spinal surgery that went wrong resulting in a spinal cord injury, and from that she has a condition called Autonomic Dysreflexia. It means her blood pressure can rise rapidly under any condition that causes discomfort.

"She can't tolerate her current wheelchair for more than two hours, so we have to reposition Natasha every two hours. She has to go from chair to bed to lying down.

"This new wheelchair is the only one available we can find that lies completely flat. It means we will be able to get Natasha out of the house and stop her from being housebound.

"When we go out and about, when Natasha needs repositioning, this would mean we can lie the wheelchair completely flat and it will allow us to be out for a day. The other bonus to the wheelchair is that her personal care can be done in the wheelchair in the back of the wheelchair van.

"At the moment, we have a time limit, if we take Natasha out of the house we have to time it from when she was last repositioned and catheterised.

"At the moment we are totally dependent on other people to care for Natasha for me to be able to get a bit of time with Reuben, and it’s proved really difficult over the last four years.

"It has been pure hell and the only way for us to start and live a normal family life and to try and get some sort of normality back is to fundraise for the chair.

"I haven't been able to do any of that with my son, as we can't leave Natasha without a carer in the house, and obviously with a carer, you're on a timeframe. It's been very difficult trying to manage both of the kids and give them both quality time.

"It's been a difficult few years and to be able to get this wheelchair for Natasha so we don't have to depend on other people would mean so much."

The wheelchair costs £21,079 and so far the family has raised £3527.

“We want to get the money raised as quickly as possible to improve Natasha’s quality of life.

"It would make such a difference to all our lives, for our sanity as well. To be able to live outside the home and not worry about depending on people.

"We have some events organised as well, including a coffee morning in Ballygowan Village Hall on November 11.” The family has asked if anyone would be interested in organising fundraisers or getting involved they can get in touch through the GoFundMe https://gofund.me/3f40c15a