About Chris Yeates

Before his accident, Chris was an outgoing 21 year old living in Essex. He worked on the railways as a maintenance officer travelling across the country. One night on his way home from work he was involved in a car accident on the motorway near Milton Keynes, he was taken to the local Hospital, and from there airlifted straight to Stoke Mandeville Hospital. Chris had previously lived with his parents, however this house was now unsuitable for a wheelchair and after a long wait and countless phone calls, he was placed first on the list for a home provided by the council, it was another few months after this that there was a house ready for him to return too, and after 6 months of delayed discharge in Stoke Mandeville Chris was finally near friends and family in his own home, but life was certainly going to be different from now on.

Chris suffered a SCI at C6 and is classed as a tetraplegic (please see our information section). This means that he is paralysed from the chest down, and has limited hand and arm
function/movement.

Chris now lives in a two bedroom adapted bungalow in Essex with his fiancée who cares for him full time. This wasn’t always going to be the case. When staying at a relative’s on weekend visits home from the hospital, Chris had carers from an agency to put him to bed of an evening and get him up in the morning, however waiting around in the morning for Carers to arrive and then being put to bed at 9pm was no life for a then 22 year old.

As Chris got more independent he was able to assist his fiancée in transferring into bed, so the carers just came in the morning. This soon became tiresome as well, in the ideal world the District nurse would come in the morning to do the toileting needs and then carers would come after to clean up, dress and get Chris out of bed. But in the real world the district nurse saw Chris as a low priority and on countless occasions wouldn’t turn up till late morning, way after the carers came. Also, in Stoke Mandeville the nurses were trained especially for SCI people, therefore knew well how to deal with bowel care and supra-pubic catheters, yet in the community district nurses just aren’t used to doing bowel care or this type of catheter.

It became quite frustrating, and when Chris was discharged from hospital his fiancée became his full time carer. Chris and his fiancée now work on their own schedule and this works very well for them, but it may not work for everyone.

"a better quality of life!"

Since being out of hospital, Chris can now transfer himself in and out of bed and the car, dress himself and shower himself with minimal assistance. There are still some things that he is working on doing by himself, but is continually working towards doing more, which makes caring for him an easier job, and gives them both a better quality of life.

Everyday Chris and his fiancée do things to help improve his fitness, currently, Chris is involved in a FES rowing program at the London Regatta Centre which they attend three times a week. Once a week Chris goes to a gym that deals with SCI clients, and he has a standing frame, leg bike and weights machine at home that he uses every day. Please see the treatments section of this website to find out more about these treatments and others that he has done.