9 replies to this topic

[Amber Comerford]

Hello, My name is Amber Comerford and I live in Glasgow. I am posting here as I want to make a documentary about recovery from spinal injury and am keen to get some advice and help to make this happen.

I would like to speak to people who have been through this situation and also to make contact with people and their families who are currently going through this. The reason for wanting to make this film has come from the fact that my Uncle became paraplegic after a car accident abroad- I want to try and gain some understanding of what this recovery process is like.

I have been working in tv for 6 years and this documentary idea has been shortlisted for the Scottish Documentary Institute Bridging the Gap Scheme- http://www.docscene....ng-the-gap.html

I have also secured support from a top Scottish documentary company, Matchlight- http://www.matchlight.co.uk/


I am particularly keen to try and focus the documentary around someone's journey from hospital to moving back home.


Thanks very much for your time.

With best wishes,

Amber

ambercomerford@hotmail.com

[Tape]

Hi Amber
would realy be interested to be of help to the documentary.i am spinally injured and paralysed from chest downwards.been injured for the past 7 months now.i live in South Africa though.wat exactly do you need.

with regards.
Tapera

tapera.nyoni707@gmail.com

[dangerousdave]

By all means concentrste on the newly SCI but include some old SCI for treatment and lifestyle comparisons

Or your program will be biased and useless

[guido]

It'll be a different angle but you might be interested to keep an eye on this: http://www.mindoverscience.co.uk/
Not sure when it'll air in the UK - will go out in US first.
Or follow on http://www.Twitter.com/mindoverscience

(edited to make the twitter link clickable)

Edited by guido, 25 October 2010 - 05:32 PM.

[Amber Comerford]

dangerousdave, on 25 October 2010 - 02:26 PM, said:

By all means concentrste on the newly SCI but include some old SCI for treatment and lifestyle comparisons

Or your program will be biased and useless

Hi Dave,

Thanks for your post-I appreciate you sharing your thoughts. I am only able to make a short form doc at this stage, but will keep in mind what you have said.

With best wishes,

Amber

guido, on 25 October 2010 - 05:31 PM, said:

It'll be a different angle but you might be interested to keep an eye on this: http://www.mindoverscience.co.uk/
Not sure when it'll air in the UK - will go out in US first.
Or follow on http://www.Twitter.com/mindoverscience

(edited to make the twitter link clickable)

Hi Guido,

Thanks very much for your post- I have just watched the trailer which is absolutely fascinating- I hope he can continue doing this amazing work.

With best wishes,

Amber

Tape, on 25 October 2010 - 11:45 AM, said:

Hi Amber
would realy be interested to be of help to the documentary.i am spinally injured and paralysed from chest downwards.been injured for the past 7 months now.i live in South Africa though.wat exactly do you need.

with regards.
Tapera

tapera.nyoni707@gmail.com

Hi Tapera,

Thanks very much for getting in touch with me, I will drop you an email tonight.

With best wishes,

Amber

[Tinbasher]

Hi Amber

I think what people are trying to say is that what you call "recovery" is only a tiny part of living as a paraplegic. It is the hard, emotional and dramatic part and has been rather overdone by the media.

In this site alone you will find people who have "recovered" to become parents, run their own business, work as a nurse, senior manager, adult movie star. These people bear no resemblance now to what they were during the acute phase of ther injury. Who and what they are now is an almost unpubliscised aspect of Spinal Cord Injury, after all who is interested in people getting on with ordinary lives?

The problem is that for the newly injured the knowledge that recovery to ordinaryness is what they need.

If you are in Glasgow then you are close to Scottish Spinal Unit at the Southern General and you may want to read Melanie Reid's blog in the Times. She broke her neck in a riding accident last year and has been blogging her recovery.

Awra best

Tom

[Edinburgh Colin]

Hi Amber,
I was a patient in the Queen Elizabeth Spinal Injuries Unit at the Southern General in Govan, Glasgow from early May 2009 until discharge in late February of this year.
I have been home now for 8 months (but it does not feel like it) and had some home days in the last couple of months prior to discharge to get try and get a feel for "being on the outside"

I have a wife and 3 children 9, 7 and just over 2 who have all been through this with me.

If I can be of any help please get in touch either as a post or PM to me and I'll help or advise if I can from a fairly recently discharged persons point of view.

Good Luck and I'd love to see the finished article too as I'm sure many here would.

[Parachute]

Hi Amber

I am willing to help out in any way that I can. I am C 3/4 incomplete. I was injured on Sunday 29 March 2009 and was in hospital until Friday 17 July 2009. I left hospital so early, so that I could get married. I have been on BBC Look North and BBC Radio Leeds speaking about my injury, recovery and wedding. I was told on Thursday 16 July that I may not be able to have ever have children and may have to look into IVF treatment. Having said that, I now have a nine week old daughter. I am a walker that walks very good unaided. I have slight bladder problems but my bowel is worse and I take Movicol every day. There is a lot more to the story. I completed the Yorkshire Three Peaks in June, which was a bit silly of me as I fell at the top of Whernside and on another day could have reinjured myself or even worse. I have gone on to do something that my physio said I could never do and have already done it ten times this year. I plan something massive next year.

I have a diary of when I was in hospital. The diary includes treatments, physio sessions, medicine taken, and personal exercise. I was injured playing rugby. I studied Health-Related Exercise and Fitness at University and one of my electives was by chance, Disablity Exercise. I was not to know that I would use what I learnt, on myself.


Parachute

[Amber Comerford]

Tinbasher, on 27 October 2010 - 09:11 PM, said:

Hi Amber

I think what people are trying to say is that what you call "recovery" is only a tiny part of living as a paraplegic. It is the hard, emotional and dramatic part and has been rather overdone by the media.

In this site alone you will find people who have "recovered" to become parents, run their own business, work as a nurse, senior manager, adult movie star. These people bear no resemblance now to what they were during the acute phase of ther injury. Who and what they are now is an almost unpubliscised aspect of Spinal Cord Injury, after all who is interested in people getting on with ordinary lives?

The problem is that for the newly injured the knowledge that recovery to ordinaryness is what they need.

If you are in Glasgow then you are close to Scottish Spinal Unit at the Southern General and you may want to read Melanie Reid's blog in the Times. She broke her neck in a riding accident last year and has been blogging her recovery.

Awra best

Tom

Hi Tom,

Thanks very much for your post. I hear what you are saying and want to let you know this initial decision to follow this particular part of the recovery process was due to the short format of the film I am hoping to secure funding to make. I believe that other times and moments are also interesting and inspiring and I would also be really keen to make the documentary about this instead/as well- so would like to widen my criteria for what the programme could be to include these kind of journeys and moments.

So it could be someone who is moving home for the first time after hospitalisation, someone starting a family or someone trying to achieve a new goal - the key thing is that this would be an observational documentary following someone’s journey. Of course, all this is dependent on whether people feel comfortable enough to have their story shared- and I do think that documentary has the power to tell ordinary stories!

I have been reading Melanie Reid's column and am currently in the process of getting in touch with the national unit in Glasgow, so thanks for your tips there!

With best wishes,

Amber

Edited by Amber Comerford, 01 November 2010 - 01:18 PM.

[Tinbasher]

Good luck with your project.

Certainly the "challenging" points in my post injury life were Coming Home, going out alone, starting a new job, first long journey alone, first post injury sex so lts of possibilities.

Tin