Anyone travelling to Blackpool watch out for a collection for Dominic Chadwick...

...his Grandmother (my great Auntie) hails from Barnsley.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/england/7573383.stm

A YOUNG Blackpool sports student may never walk again after breaking his
neck in a horror fall in Thailand.
Medics fear Dominic Chadwick, 22, could be paralysed for the rest of his
life after the accident in the tourism hotspot of Phuket.

He fell from a walkway leading to the Hilton Hotel after a night out with
his girlfriend.

Dominic – a former pupil of St Mary's College, Layton – stumbled, landed
badly, crushing vertebrae at the base of his neck and top of his spinal
column.

One lung has collapsed and medics have also found a potentially life
threatening blood clot in his leg.

British specialists have told the family he needs surgery and rehabilitation
work here.

Dominic's mother Jane and two older brothers, James and Andrew, have now
flown out to be at his side in Bangkok Phuket hospital.

On top of the trauma, the Chadwick family, who live at North Shore, face the
additional fear of financial ruin in their bid to bring Dominic back to
Britain for specialist medical care at either Southport Spinal Injuries Unit
or Stoke Mandeville Hospital.

Due to a mix-up over currencies Dominic is only insured for £3,000. Medical
expenses already stand at £13,500 and are rising by the day.

James, 25, said Dominic fell after dining out last Tuesday with his
girlfriend Alex, a dancer and model.

Speaking from Bangkok, James said: "He reached for a branch of a tree to
steady himself, but it gave way and he stumbled. It wasn't that great a
drop, but he landed badly on the back of his neck."

Dominic, who worked part-time at Blackpool's Litten Tree pub and plays
hockey and football, planned to return to Edge Hill University to retake the
final year of his sports science course to train as a PE teacher.

"He's mad about sport which makes what has happened even more tragic," James
added.

The family may have to appeal to friends and family on the Fylde coast to
help raise the £20,000 needed mount a mercy mission to bring Dominic home –
as happened after a 23-year-old Poulton man Ryan Neale was left in a coma
this summer.

He is now in a vegetative state after crashing his moped in Thailand without
insurance. His family are fighting to cover his medical costs and long term
nursing home care.

Dominic has already started physiotherapy in the hope of being fit enough to
board a plane home.

James added: "He has some sensation left, when touched, so there's hope. But
doctors aren't at all optimistic.

"They say such things come and go and are pretty definite that he will be
paralysed whether from the neck, chest or waist downwards.

"But he's gone from being very scared about it all to fighting back by
asking questions, through me, and doing his exercises and physio.

"We want to get him on that plane as soon as doctors say he's fit enough to
leave. It's important he gets help within the first few months otherwise he
could lose everything."

To add to the nightmare, the family has learned medics estimate it could be
seven to 10 days before he's able to fly home.
The hospital has offered to waive 20 per cent of the costs to ease the
family’s ordeal.

James adds: “We reckon we’re looking at £20,000 at the very least –
realistically far more.”

Family friends, Angela and David Lidstone, who run Stanley Park Art Deco
Cafe, have donated several thousand pounds and want to organise fundraising
events and collections. Dominic’s former colleagues at the Litten Tree have
also donated tips to the appeal.