RACHEL HARRY
THE RACHEL HARRY FUND
- HELP US SUPPORT OUR AMAZING LADY -
ABOUT RACHEL HARRY
OUR STRONG BEAUTIFUL LADY CONSTANTLY DEFIES EVERY OBSTACLE
RACHEL'S STORY
HER MIRACLE RECOVERY FROM A CATASTROPHIC EVENT
The 23rd of July 2012 should have been a happy celebration to welcome the newest addition to our family, not the worst nightmare any family should have to experience.
As Rachel gave birth to her beautiful daughter, an undetected blood clot caused a massive heart attack and we suddenly lost our gorgeous girl.
For 20 minutes the crash team fought hard to bring her back and thankfully they won the battle, Rachel's heart was restarted and again back with us. However, being without oxygen and blood (the team juggled breaking up the clot with stemming the blood flow from the cesarean cut) Rachel suffered a hypoxic brain injury and was given just 2 hours to live.
Specialists explained that no-one had survived such a massive trauma - massive blood clot, fatal heart attack, hypoxic brain injury in addition to major surgery.
Well, Rachel stayed with us past the 2 hour deadline, past the critical 24 hour period and throughout the emergency surgery to rectify the complications of Cesarean operation.
Rachel remained in a medically induced coma for 10 days, her future uncertain - we were told that even if she did ‘wake-up’ she would be left with a serious brain injury and would need 24/7 care.
Rachel amazingly kept going and moved into the wakeful stage, no machines and needing less monitoring.
Rachel had her beautiful baby girl, Freya, with her every day for as long as the medics would allow and she continued to defy each updated prognosis.
Placed on a general medical ward for 3 months, unable to move, eat, drink or function her family and friends maintained a constant flow of encouragement and support. Rachel then spent 8 months at Clatterbridge Brain Injury Rehabilitation unit in Liverpool and made slow but positive progress towards coming home to be with her baby girl, family and special friends.
Against all odds and in time for Freya's 1st Birthday, Rachel came home on the 8th June 2013. She was unable to sit up, stand, walk or communicate, but she was at home with Freya and everyone who loved her, and her willpower to be a mum remains relentless.
THE RACHEL HARRY FUND
HELP A FIGHTER KEEP ON FIGHTING
ABOUT THE FUND
SUPPORTING RACHEL'S REHABILITATION
The Rachel Harry Fund was set up in December 2012 by Rachels’ dad and his close friends and continues to fund essential physio sessions and associated interventions such as botox and private consultations - the NHS system fails to provide what Rachel needs to reach her full potential.
Through the tremendous efforts and generous support of friends, family and local businesses, Rachel was able to attend 3 private specialist physio sessions every week and slowly but visibly started to come back to us.
Rachel has continued to improve to a state once thought impossible by medical professionals.
Three years since going through what specialists describe as a catastrophic event. Now Rachel can sit at the dining table and eat her food with very little help, she can stand practically unaided and walk around the house with support.
Rachel understands everything that goes on around her, reads and sings with Freya and frequently responds verbally (and physically with rude gestures) to conversations.
Most importantly she has developed a loving and special relationship with Freya.
Rachel's story is one that shows how the impossible can be achieved.
Without the overwhelming fundraising efforts of Rachel’s family, special friends and local businesses the private physio sessions would not be possible and who knows how far Rachel would progress.
We cannot thank you all enough for thinking of Rachel and giving your time, efforts and generosity to enable her ongoing progress.
If you would like to help Rachel to keep on progressing at the amazing rate of which she is doing, please feel free to donate to the RACHEL HARRY FUND using the button below. A special mention goes to Clare Fraser and her team at Therapy Matters Physio for their commitment in pushing Rachel to achieve her potential and to Stuart Tunnicliffe, NHS Community Physiotherapist for his constant encouragement - all of you continue to drive Rachel's progress.
Any size donation is gratefully received! All future events, blog posts and fundraising activities will be published within Rachel's Progress on this page.
*Donations are carried out using Paypal
A Paypal account is NOT required for donation
RACHEL'S PROGRESS
RACHEL'S BLOG - STEP BY STEP
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UPDATE JANUARY 2016
How much media coverage have we had???
Following Sunday Mirror story on 29 November, we had lots of positive media attention leading to National TV (Channel 5 News at 6.30 on Friday 18 December, Daily Post (Christmas story Thursday 17 December) and Wrexham Leader (Wayne and Emma's Cheque presentaiton Monday 21 December) All stories can be seen on line - sorry I am not competent in adding in links and rely on Miles Murphy to create time for me!!!
The Media coverage has attracted lots more interest in Rachel's progress and increased the Physio fund considerably, at 31 December we have received:
- Donations to this site via PayPal - £500 (MANY THANKS TO EACH AND EVERY PERSON FOR THEIR MONEY AND KIND MESSAGES)
- Donations from Uncle Richard's funeral £330 - MUCH APPRECIATION TO Dot, Tony, Kev and Lesley for thinking of Rachel at such a sad time
- £1200 as direct payment for one month physio sessions (THANKYOU to Mr & Mrs Mike Pritchard and BC Partners)
- Personal Donations £100 (THANKYOU to Friends of Greyhound Pub; Aunty Netta and Uncle Edwin from Kent)
- London Auction cheque £3,193 - THANKYOU WAYNE AND EMMA and all sponsors and bidders
- Staff at BERESFORD ADAMS & COUNTRYWIDE, North wales region have pledged to donate monies collected during their 'Christmas Jumper day' on 9 December and plan to present Rachel with total donations of around £300 as soon as all monies are collected THANKYOU to Roger, Luoise and all the team across North Wales
Entyce Media ran a hugely successful web-based Musical Christmas Message and have generously pledged to produce a video section on this web-page - THANKYOU to Jane and the team
GOLF DAY & EVENING SHOW 5 MARCH 2016 - The Rachel Harry Fund Committee are planning yet another fantastic fundraising event at WREXHAM GOLF CLUB. TICKETS ARE NOW SOLD OUT!!!!
AMAZING EVENTS
THANKS to the SUNDAY MIRROR National newspaper - SUNDAY 29 NOVEMBER Rachel and Freya are celebrities yet again and they both LOVE IT!!!! In addition to the lovely messages and positive feedback lots of kind and generous people have given money to Rachel's physio - TOTAL OF £185 in just two days!!!
POSTAL DONATIONS - Many thanks to Aunty Ann, Ian Roe and Ceri (from Bell Meadow Business Park), Susan Deakin, Huw (Aunty Joan's friend), Roy & Sylvia Madeley, Val & George, our kind neighbours and the anonymous cash received towards Rachel's physio TOTAL DONATED £500!!!!
A HUGE THANKYOU to each and every person who has donated, Rachel is under pressure to work even harder given that so many people have a stake in her rehabilitation and are watching her progress. KEEP VIEWING THIS SITE FOR EVIDENCE OF PROGRESS!!!
WHAT IS NEXT??
ENTYCE media have produced their first web-based Christmas Card and have pledged to donate 10p for every view - More details early December. Thank you to Jane Entwistle and colleagues for their generous support
HOLD THE DATE - 5 MARCH 2016 The Rachel Harry Fund Committee are planning yet another fantastic Golf Day and Evening Show at WREXHAM GOLF CLUB. Tickets and further details will be available in the New Year
OCTOBER EVENTS
GILL, DEAN AND ALL AT WREXHAM FITCAMP donated a fabulous £182 during their regular sessions held in Wrexham - so kind and generous
SALLY'S MARATHON - Sally Holmes completed the Farndon marathon and raised a brilliant £400 towards Rachel's physio. Thank you to Sally and everyone who sponsored her. Sally will also be making Christmas crafts and donating proceeds to Rachel's fund to achieve her £500 target!!The link to Sally's page is attached here.
HELEN, ROGER AND AMY PARRY - completed the 'Rough Runner' event and are currently collecting sponsorship for Rachels Fund - so brave, fit and generous. TOTAL AMOUNT DONATED £360!!!!
LONDON AUCTION - Wayne and Emma have raised a staggering £3,050 from the bids and donations via the promotional pages. Wayne is also running the New York Marathon on Sunday 1 November and plan to promote the unsold items on a web based sale during November
NATALIE FORSYTH organised a pamper day and raffle at Escape Health and Beauty and raised an amazing £410. THANK YOU Natalie so much we knew nothing about your efforts.
DONATION - Aunty Margaret and Paul Valentine sent yet another donation of £40 towards Rachel's physio. THANK YOU both
GLOW BEAUTY ROOMS, Charles Street, Wrexham - NIKKI & HEATHER are offering nail painting at GLOW on FRIDAY 6 NOVEMBER. Both are giving their time and expertise and asking clients to make a donation to Rachel's fund in lieu of payments. TOTAL MONEY DONATED £300!!!!
REVEAL MAGAZINE - Following a photoshoot on 31 October, Rachel and Freya appeared in Reveal magazine 10 November - Lots of lovely Feedback and the article attracted EXTRA DONATIONS of £142 via this website!!!
YOU ARE ALL FABULOUS, THANKYOU THANKYOU THANKYOU!!
COMMUNITY DAY AT ST PAUL'S
We all supported the Community Day at St Paul's Primary School, organised by LendLease. Use the link to check out how we all transformed the school grounds in just two days!!
RACHEL'S STORY FEATURED IN THE WREXHAM LEADER
The scale of Rachel's recovery continues to be of interest to reporters and readers of the main newspaper within the Wrexham area, North Wales.
Rachel's story was originally published in the 12th June 2015 edition where the author had met with Rachel, Emma (Sister) and Karan (Mother) to provide the content within the news story that was linked to the Fun Day hosted by Redbrook Day Nursery School, Wrexham Industrial Estate which raised over £400 for the Rachel Harry Fund. The original and subsequent reports have generated an overwhelming response, with neighbours, friends and local well wishers continuing to donate funds towards Rachel's private physio sessions.
Karan said it was a “fantastic day”. “I can’t thank the girls at the nursery enough. They did so much to make it a really lovely day, and the continuous support from local people is overwhelming"
Do read all reports on LeaderLive website, the original report is accessible in the link here.
PENLEY SWIMMING CLUB
On 24 February 2016, 19 energetic swimmers presented a generous cheque to Rachel for a staggering £900!!!
Earlier this month, Freya's swimming instructors Loraine and Natalie at Penley Swimming Club instigated a sponsored swimathon whereby the team swam the distance equivalent to the English Channel crossing.
The team - Portia, Osian, Michael, Paige, Callum, Greg, Alistair, Oliver, Rowena, Natalie, Ethan, Ewan, Tiggy, Lucy, Dylan, Ellie, Charlotte, Finley and Harri- put all their energy, willpower and enthusiasm into succeeding their individual goals and collected sponsorship money to pay for Rachel's physio sessions.
The pride and sense of achievement was evident as soon as we entered the pool area earlier today and we are overwhelmed by their generosity - most of whom do not even know Rachel.
THANKYOU TO EVERY SWIMMER, SPONSOR AND COACH we are very grateful for your kindness that will cover almost a month of physio sessions for Rachel. Rachel is doing so well and loved seeing you all tonight.
ROD KAVANAGH'S BIRTHDAY BASH
Local business man, Rod Kavanagh celebrated a landmark birthday by inviting family and friends to a fabulous birthday party at his home in Cheshire in July 2015.
Rather than accept birthday gifts, Rod asked his guests to make a donation to Rachel's Fund and as a result he presented generous cheques to the value of£6,000 "for Rachel to enjoy"
Rachel, her sister Emma and dad Paul with partner Sue, joined the guests and as you will see from the picture Rachel thoroughly enjoyed partying and all the lavish attention. (Picture below)
We are so grateful for Rod and wife Sandra's support and for their guests generosity - THANK YOU ALL
EMMA TAKES PART IN FUNDRAISING ZIP WIRE
On March 22nd 2015, Rachel's sister Emma, alongside carers from TLC - VERA (Pictured with Emma) plus CLAIRE AND JOANNA - took part in a Sponsored Zip-Wire fundraising event for the Rachel Harry Fund. Emma who is terrified of heights took part in the event in the mountains of Snowdonia in North Wales.
Last autumn 4 gentlemen with combined ages of 360 bravely tackled the Zip-Wire Challenge to support Rachel's Physio. The 3 Massey brothers plus a friend proudly presented a cheque for £550.
Their efforts inspired Rachel's sister Emma along with 3 of Rachel's carers from TLC to undertake the zip wire challenge in March this year. Generous sponsorship has raised an amazing £1700!
The funds raised from the Zip Wire event will be used to fund Rachel's private physiotherapy sessions, of which are critical to her ever amazing recovery.
GOLF DAY HUGE SUCCESS
Rachel's dad, Paul Harry and members of the Rachel Harry Fund Committee organised another fantastic fundraising event at Wrexham Golf Club on Saturday 22 August 2015.
174 golfers participated in the Golf competition and 120 guests attended the evening dinner show. Their generosity raised a staggering £7,200 which will fund Rachel's private physio sessions over the next 12 months.
Rachel joined in the fun at the evening dinner show and had a great time socialising along with her sister Emma, brother-in-law Johnny and friends Hayley and Steve (pictured with Rachel) A huge THANK YOU to Paul Harry, David and Karen Griffiths and Jim Keenan plus all sponsors, guests and golfers for thinking of Rachel.
RACHEL'S SITE IS LIVE!
Welcome to Rachel's new website created by our lovely neighbour, Miles Murphy Loads of friends, family and businesses have supported us over the past three years and Thank You never seems enough. But... THANK YOU EVERYONE.
However, special mention to:
THE RACHEL HARRY FUND COMMITTEE - Jim Keenan, David and Karen Griffiths, Craig Matthews, Phil Nichols and Brian Forbes for their constant support and without their drive to start the fund none of this would be possible
ROD KAVANAGH - local businessman for his personal and continuous support to Rachel's progress
RUSS ALMAND, DSL - for his ongoing specialist advice and provision of enabling equipment
CLARE FRASER at THERAPYMATTERS and STUART TUNNICLIFFE, NHS COMMUNITY PHYSIOTHERAPIST, - for their commitment and skill towards enabling Rachel to achieve such high and unexpected potential
BIRD therapists for believing in Rachel's capability to progress and for everyone who has helped us with the daily exercise regime.
TRACY, SUSAN, CLAIRE, CARA and DANIELLE at ANDREW LAURENCE - for keeping Rachel involved in her passion for hair, their personal support and maintenance of ALL our hairstyles
PAUL MURPHY AND OUR PROFESSIONAL CARE TEAM AT TLC - for ensuring Rachel's personal care and essential rehabilitation is consistent
FUNDRAISERS AND SPONSORS - for all your ongoing generosity towards Rachel's improvement. You are all caring, brave, generous and fantastic.
OUR LOVELY FAMILY AND SPECIAL FRIENDS - for keeping in touch and keeping us going, you know WHO you are xxxxxxxxxx
OUR CHRISTMAS 2015
We have had such a happy festive time, with Rachel actively participating in everything such as putting up the tree, choosing presents, wrapping presents, cooking party food and even washing UP (just the once, she clearly said she didnt like it so no change there!!)
Freya has been spoilt and loved all her presents from Santa and Christmas Day was very moving seeing Freya and Rachel interacting and happy together - more than we could have hoped for, even up to last Christmas! THANK YOU for all their presents and good wishes.
Rachel is doing great, she clearly wants to be involved in everything that is going on, opting to do things for herself such as eating, drinking and WALKING with her frame. Every significant sign of progress is having a positive, happy effect on all of us - so here's to an even HAPPIER 2016 XX
OUR SUMMER 2015
Thank you for all your positive feedback on the launch of the website. With the guidance and patience of Miles Murphy we seem to have achieved our aims to - SHARE OUR STORY AND UPDATE EVERYONE WHO KNOWS RACHEL ON HER AMAZING PROGRESS; PROMOTE FUNDRAISING EVENTS AND SHOW OUR APPRECIATION TO YOU ALL FOR YOUR OVERWHELMING GENEROSITY AND PROVIDE A ROUTE FOR YOUR CONSTANT AND KIND DONATIONS.
We have had a fun summer 2015, doing lots of stuff that we would have expected before Freya’s birth yet never imagined we could think about during the early days. Rachel has improved and developed beyond our dreams directly through intense specialist physio sessions with Clare and Stuart and achieved quantifiable progress with the BIRD exercise regime. All this has enabled Rachel to participate and enjoy normal stuff as a loving mummy with Freya and her 3rd birthday party was a huge success. As a close family we have been able to go on lots of day trips to Chester Zoo, picnics and cycling at Alyn Waters, a great week in a caravan park in Rhyl, we all loved splashing about in the hot tub at the luxury lodge in Talacre, regular sleepovers at Gullivers World to experience all the rides and benefit from the outstanding hospitality at the hotel. Rachel has loved getting glammed up for the special social events such as the Golf Day cabaret evening and Rod’s birthday party -She definitely still loves a good night out, so keep the invites going. Yes its been a great summer!!!
October looks like a fruitful month for fundraising with Sally Homes’ all set for her sponsored run (still time to offer sponsorship via the link) and Wayne and Emma’s Auction is generating loads of unique ‘lots’ (do follow the Facebook link and consider putting in a remote bid if anything interests you) We look forward to cheering Sally on and hearing about the outcome of the Auction.
Wrexham Fitcamp donated a generous £182 so big thank you to Dean, Gill and the team for their efforts, much appreciated.
The Take a Break Story has been published (Issue 40) and many thanks for all your supportive comments. it was a tough call to try and create a story that captured the key points. Not sure it did that, lots more to it as our close family and friends know but Rachel loved the attention and hopefully it was another means of helping her to understand what happened and how amazing her progress has been. We couldn’t have got to publishing the story without the expertise and caring approach of Kim Wills of Pheonix Features so do look out for REVEAL magazine in the near future as a photoshoot is imminent.
Finally, Rachel has also been actively involved in preparing Freya for mainstream school. Choosing her uniform (Frozen theme of course!) and settling her through her tearful first few weeks as any other loving mummy. The best part has been seeing Rachel collecting Freya at the end of each day - mixing with the other mums until Freya runs out into her mummy’s arms is a lovely sight - Thankyou Fran and other mums for your constant support. Megan loves her aunty Rach meeting her from school again and cheeky Harry enjoys hiding behind his aunty Rach until his sister and cousin come out of class. Not forgetting all at St Paul's and the bestest teacher ever - Mrs Jones!!! Hard work but so rewarding.
Do keep in touch and have a happy Autumn xxx
A SUCCESSFUL 2015
Thank you for all your positive feedback during the launch of the website. With the guidance and patience of Miles Murphy we seem to have achieved our aims to -
SHARE OUR STORY AND UPDATE EVERYONE WHO KNOWS RACHEL ON HER AMAZING PROGRESS;
PROMOTE FUNDRAISING EVENTS AND SHOW OUR APPRECIATION TO YOU ALL FOR YOUR OVERWHELMING GENEROSITY
AND PROVIDE A ROUTE FOR YOUR CONSTANT AND KIND DONATIONS.
During the latter end of 2015, Rachel made unbelievable progress and I do believe it is as a result of three main triggers:
1. FREYA - their relationship is so special and Freya constantly wills Rachel to do stuff, eating, drinking, talking and walking. You have to be in their company to see how they interact and how Freya clearly inspires and drives Rachel to achieve results.
2. THERAPY MATTERS - Clare Fraser and her team push Rachel to identify her own personal goals - always to WALK - and enable Rachel to succeed during every session. As well as give Rachel and us regular homework to ensure the therapy is constant and practised at every opportunity
3. KAREN, KAROLINA AND GLORIA from TLC - without their individual commitment towards encouraging Rachel to walk, talk, eat, drink and use every opportunity to develop her independence at every level, I know that Rachel would not have progressed this far.
Finally, every donor, sponsor, friend and family member who have given TIME, MONEY, PRAISE or ENCOURAGEMENT have definitely helped Rachel to be more determined to succeed and come back to us as best she can
My personal 2016 wish is for us all to keep positive and for Rachel to keep progressing and everyone to keep with us. THANK YOU ALL XXXX
STORY COMING SOON
Story coming soon...
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