Melanie Clay-Smith wonders why the spinal cord has no “backup” – this has crossed her mind as she struggles to help her 62-year-old husband rehabilitate after a fall at home made him a quadraplegic.
Geoff Clay-Smith has been at GF Strong since June, waiting to get strong enough to come home.
Melanie said the stories she’s heard there of random accidents, like tripping on a leash, that have caused people “catastrophic” injuries makes her think about how vulnerable people.
“The spinal cord has no backup – it’s a fault in the design – (we have) two lungs, two kidneys, two eyes, (but) one heart and spinal cord,” Melanie said.
Geoff, who grew up in Richmond and is now 68, recovered almost fully as a child from polio, left with just one leg handicapped. At 18 months, he ended up in the hospital for a year recovering from the disease that was sweeping across the globe.
His parents ended up selling half of their chicken farm on Blundell Road in 1953 to pay for his treatment.
But, now, just two years into his retirement as a high school English teacher, he is facing a new physical challenge.
Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, with a weakened knee, Geoff fell and sustained a C4 spinal injury.
“We were hiding out from COVID, living our little lives and he just fell in the house,” Melanie said. “He wasn’t skydiving, he was just walking through his house and he got struck down.”
Melanie reached out on Facebook to ask for advice on how to cope with this new situation they were facing and her friends encouraged her to start a GoFundMe campaign – she had supported others in the past.
Geoff is still on a ventilator at GF Strong after spending a month in the ICU at Vancouver General.
When he is fully weaned off the ventilator, Melanie is hopeful he will be able to come home to their Williams Road house.
So far, the GoFundMe campaign has raised $20,000 to help pay for a wheelchair, a lift, a new bed and mattress as well as other supplies needed to bring him home. They will also have to make modifications to doorways and the bathroom to accommodate Geoff’s wheelchair.
“Being disabled is so expensive – just terribly expensive,” Melanie said.
But, not only have the Clay-Smiths received monetary help, the kind words from former students and colleagues have been uplifting, Melanie said.
Many students from Kitsilano Secondary in Vancouver where he taught English for many years wrote about his impact on them, wrote on the GoFundMe page, many mentioning his “booming voice” in the hallways.
“Kitsilano has been absolutely brilliant in supporting (the GoFundMe campaign),” Melanie said, adding “They’ve given such warm tributes that matches any monetary donations to know that he had that impact.”
Click here for the GoFundMe campaign page.
