Rob’s story: Care, travel, and helping others
7 November 2024
Meet Rob:
- Travels frequently for work and for fun
- Works as a lawyer
- Enjoys hobbies such as sport coaching and learning French
Every spinal cord injury is as unique as the person who sustains it. Depending on where the spinal cord is damaged, an injured individual will face different challenges – but Back Up is here to help everyone affected by spinal cord injury get the most out of life.
Rob sustained a C3 complete injury in a car accident. His injury means he has no movement or sensation from his shoulders down, and he uses a ventilator to breathe.
For Rob, the impact of his injury was devastating. He had only just finished travelling on a gap year at the time, and his plans for further education were put on hold.
“I felt a big loss of independence. I’d just returned from travelling around Fiji, Australia, and New Zealand. I loved rugby and rowing, and was looking forward to starting university – but all of a sudden I was stuck back at home.”
Because of his high-level injury, Rob uses a team of personal assistants to help him live day-to-day. At first, Rob found this difficult to get used to. He also says that it was challenging for his family.
“Coming out of hospital, life felt massively different. We had to re-adapt our family home, I had to stay in our living room while we had purpose-built accommodation constructed on the side of the house.
“My family also struggled with getting used to my care team, as we had strangers regularly coming in and out of our home. It felt like a loss of independence, especially because I was looking forward to having so much freedom prior to my injury.”
Rob could see that there would be even more challenges lying ahead for him – but fortunately, he met Back Up while in hospital. We helped him discover that there are others like him with a high level injury living life to the full.
“I remember the first Back Up volunteer I met in hospital. It was amazing just to talk to someone else who had been through such a life-changing event. It showed me what was possible – that there were others like me out there.”
Now, over a decade since his injury, Rob has come a long way. He has travelled, developed in his career as a lawyer, and also volunteers with Back Up.
“Over the years I’ve learned a huge amount about managing a care team in order to live more independently. I think the biggest thing I’ve learned is to be really clear about what you expect and what support you need, and also make sure that you plan and prepare as much as possible – especially when travelling.
“When travelling with a spinal cord injury you may face challenges, or things may go wrong, but everything will go much more smoothly when you clearly communicate your needs to your care team.”
With all his experiences, Rob is keen to share his knowledge with others in a similar situation – so he can help show that living well with a high-level injury is possible. Now, Rob volunteers with us to help deliver our life-changing services. As well as volunteering as a Back Up mentor, Rob also supports us on our Back Up Connect service.
As a volunteer Connector, Rob helps provide a listening ear to others in a similar situation – who want to speak with someone who “just gets it”.
“Back Up Connect is all about answering those one-off questions people have after spinal cord injury – it means I can help people around topics like travel and care, as well as making them aware of the other services Back Up provides.
“It feels really rewarding to volunteer on Back Up Connect. I would have certainly used this service if it was available when I first sustained my injury!”
Visit this page to learn more about our Back Up Connect service.
