IMAGINE SPENDING CHRISTMAS IN HOSPITAL - this is the poignant image Stoke Mandeville Spinal Research (SMSR) is inviting the community to visualise as it launches its first Christmas appeal to enable more people living with spinal cord injury (SCI), the chance to spend the festive season at home with loved ones.

Based at the world-renowned National Spinal Injuries Centre (NSIC) at Stoke Mandeville hospital, SMSR hopes to shine a light on what life is really like for people with SCI (currently over 100,000 people in the UK alone), who often end up spending much of the Christmas period in hospital for treatment and rehabilitation.

Give the gift of going home this Christmas - donate here now.

SMSR Ambassador and wheelchair user, Kat Panagaki, who has spent not one, not two, but three Christmases in hospital since her accident in 2014, explained: "As a result of my accident whilst on holiday in Greece, I fractured my C4, C5, and C6 vertebrae, and my shoulders and elbows. I was admitted to hospital – initially in Athens – before transferring to London’s Charing Cross Hospital, then onto Stoke Mandeville’s National Spinal Injuries Centre (NSIC). 

“During this time, I spent two Christmases in hospital. I was readmitted to hospital three years later due to a pressure sore which required plastic surgery to fix. This happened just before Christmas. After surgery, I had to spend six weeks just lying on my back.” 

She added: “Christmas should be a time when you don’t feel alone: in fact, you’re lonelier than ever. With a spinal cord injury, people don’t understand that it’s not just a few days in hospital, and it isn’t just one Christmas. It can be weeks, months, and even years.”

Commenting on the launch of the ‘Give the gift of going home’ appeal, SMSR Fundraiser, Rachel Thomas, said: “Imagine waking up on Christmas morning, not at home, but in hospital, quite possibly a long way from loved ones. For people with spinal cord injuries, this can be the ongoing reality. Those with an SCI often have repeated extended hospital stays due to pressure sores, recurring urinary tract infections, neuropathic pain, and other health complications, which can have a debilitating impact on daily life and mental health.”

She added: “Please show your support for our Christmas appeal by donating whatever you can afford today or by getting involved with your own festive fundraiser. Any money donated, or raised, will go towards much needed research that will help prevent more people like Kat from spending yet another festive season in hospital.”

Click here to make a donation to our Give the gift of going home Christmas Appeal.