Sam's appeal

When he was 7 years old, my sporty son Sam was motocross mad. We were always watching him practising or in tournaments. He loved his bike and dreamt of being a champion.

Then one weekend his dreams were shattered by an horrendous accident. We arrived at a tournament and were getting ready when Sam ran ahead, eager to get on his bike and try out the new track. As we approached the track, we could see that there had been an accident; a lifeless body lay at the bottom of a big jump. Sam’s bike was next to it and straight away I feared the worst.

I ran to him. He was alive, but he was unconscious and in a critical condition. They told me that Sam had taken the jump and that his bike had stalled as he landed. While he tried to get it going again, an adult rider took the jump, not knowing that Sam was still in the landing area. Sam took the full force as the bike hit him from above. Before anyone could help him, a second rider followed and he was hit again.

When we arrived the hospital staff tried to prepare us for the worst. He’d suffered a serious head injury. They thought it was highly likely that Sam would die that day.

But Sam defied the doctors’ expectations. After eleven days they took him off the ventilator and he began to breathe on his own. But the outlook still wasn’t good. Sam was still in a coma. Every day we sat by his bedside still urging him to get better.

As Sam’s 8th birthday approached we decided to take him home. We made him up a bed downstairs in the lounge, and every day I washed and dressed him. Every morning his dad, Shane, and I lifted Sam from his bed to give him a change of view. We’d look at each other and say ‘one, two, three, go’ and carefully lift him onto a pile of duvets on the floor. We talked to him constantly, telling him what we were doing, and what was going on around him, hoping all the time for a break through.

Two heart-breaking weeks passed and then our miracle happened. We were about to lift Sam. I looked at Shane, and together we said ‘One, two, three…’

‘Go’, whispered a little voice from the bed. 

It was a moment that I will never forget. My little boy was back.

From that moment on, we were determined to give Sam the best possible chance. Sam’s doctor told us about the outstanding care and therapy available at The Children’s Trust, so we immediately asked for a referral.

The Children's Trust developed a therapy programme just for Sam. We started to see a real change in him almost immediately. I was with him the first time he had hydrotherapy in the Trust’s pool. He smiled at me as he splashed about in the water. It was such a special moment. The Children’s Trust helped put that smile back on my son’s face. They gave him the hope and confidence that he needed to get better.

Since then Sam has come on in leaps and bounds. He left The Children’s Trust in 2005 and he’s back at mainstream school. It’s more than we ever hoped for three years ago and we can’t thank the staff at The Children’s Trust enough.

Please make a donation today to help The Children’s Trust. There are many families still counting on the Trust to help their children. Thank you.

Melanie Revell, Sam’s mum

P.S Please take a few moments to read Sam's therapy diary, which he wrote himself.