Bringing home Stephen Murray. New update added.

May 19, 2016

Written by Bart de Jong

Read 14611 times

Hi, my name is Stephen Murray and i'm a 36 year old former professional BMX Dirt Jumper and father of two boys, Seth and Mason. In June 2007 I suffered a career ending injury at the Baltimore Dew Tour where I crashed on a double backflip and broke my neck leaving me paralysed from the shoulders down. For the last 9 years my life has had more than it's fair share of complications, but I continue to 'stay strong' and firmly believe that one day in the future I will walk again and ride with my two boys.

I moved out to California as an 18 year old with dreams of becoming a professional BMX Dirt Jumper, and managed to not only fulfil that dream but achieve things I could never have imagained possible for a kid from Newcastle. Now 18 years on, the time has come for me to move back home to England with my two sons Seth and Mason.

The last 9 years have been incredibly financialy draining on my

family and the reality is that it is unsustaiable for me to continue living in the US. Additionally, in the last 4 months, I have suffered 3 severe bouts of hospital inducing pneumonia and I know that the best place of care for Seth, Mason and myself is back home in England with my family.

The costs of moving back home to England are enormous (I have spent 18 years of my life here) and their are further significant costs involved once there such as housing modifications for wheelchair accessability, rehabilitation equipment and physiotherapy programmes to name but a few. Additionally, it will take up to 2 years for me to receive full disability benefits (having lived outside of the UK for such a long time) so the immediate future will certainly be financially difficult, although I know that long term this is the right move for us all.

My friends have told me I should set up this page to help make this move a reality. I continue to be overwhelmed by the support I'm still receiving such a long time after the accident, and can't thank you all enough.

Stay Strong

Stephen

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Thanks

Here's a new update from Stephen:

After being paralysed for nearly 9 years I feel it is important to share this with my family and friends. The reality of my spinal injury has left me with serious breathing difficulties. My right diaphragm is paralaysed, meaning my right lung is inoperable. My left diaphragm is 50% paralaysed meaning my left lung only operates with the strength of half a diaphragm. I have suffered from pneumonia numerous times, but in January my friend and caregiver AJ Fox, found me unresponsive. My carbon dioxide a levels had built up so high that it left my body toxic and unable to breath. I woke up on a ventilator and realised I was in serious trouble. Unable to talk or communicate I asked God to give me the strength to get through this. At times when I felt I had nothing left, I reached inside and dug deeper. After two weeks I finally got out of hospital. Thank God for the support of my mom and dad, brother and two sons Seth and Mason.

Shortly after this my dad found out about a ground breaking surgery that was recently passed by the FDA in 2015. The surgery consisted of attaching electrodes to my right and left diaphragm in the hope that they would respond to a electrical stimulus. This was the best news I had received since my accident, in fact I was blown away.

Every breath we take, you take for granted. You don't have to think or focus on breathing because it occurs naturally. It is not until you are stripped of your ability to breathe, that you realise how precious each and every breath of life is.

The surgery took place in Cleveland Ohio and the surgeons name was Dr Raymond Onders. Right before I went under the knife the surgeon talked to me, explaining that he couldn't guarantee that my right diaphragm would respond to electrical stimulus.

I happened to be blessed as the surgery was successful and both diaphragms responded to the electrical stimulus. The following day an electrical stimulator box was programmed for me.I have five wires that come out of the top of my abdomen. There is a Cable that runs from the box and plugs in to the wires at the top of my Abdomen. At first it was really uncomfortable and it felt weird. I struggled with the idea of getting used to it. It feels like pins and needles on the inside of your body where it is the stimulating the diaphragm muscles, which in turn helps both lungs to work. They also gave me another box that was programmed to a higher stimulation. I started off doing one hour on and two hours off, eventually building up to 12 hours a day for one week. I then switched to the second box that was programmed for a high stimulation and started to use it 24 hours a day. It has been three weeks since my surgery and the difference in my ability to breathe is massive. I can talk and communicate without running out of breath and stuttering. My oxygen saturation has improved dramatiicaly and little by little my body will continue to heal. I want to thank everyone who has been a part of this healing process and in particular my dad and Dr John Macdonald for guiding me in the right direction????

Www.gofundme.com/bringhomestephen