This week, 52 Lives is trying to help Kathryn, a 36 year old mother of 2, from the Isle of Wight.

In February 2011, Kathryn was driving the van they she and her husband, Nic, used for their furniture business. She swerved to avoid a bird, and went head on through a wooden telegraph pole and hit a tree. She was airlifted to Walsgrave University Hospital, Coventry, and officially died 4 times on the way to the hospital.

Kathryn was put into an induced coma, and was expected to be left quadriplegic, with locked in syndrome and unable to breathe by herself. She spent over a year in hospital and intensive rehabilitation.

Kathryn has defied all the odds. She can talk, use a wheelchair for mobility and is even beginning to learn how to walk again. But in order to care for his wife and their two children, Nic had to sell their family home and they are now living in a caravan on the Isle of Wight.

Because Kathryn does not fit in a medical “box” she has really struggled with such basic things like accessing ongoing therapies, counselling or pain relief, and they often have to rely on paying for her treatment themselves. Her private physiotherapy, for example, costs £80 per hour. But it is making such a difference to her that they often forgo buying groceries in order to pay for it, instead relying on the local food bank for their meals.

Having to choose between feeding your family and medical treatment isn’t something anyone should have to do. This lovely family is in a desperate situation. We want to help make their life a little bit easier.