Background
Camilla Milbank
In mid July of 2009 Camilla had a tragic accident whilst riding work in Newmarket. As a result of her fall, Camilla suffered a broken neck and damage primarily to her C6 vertebra and spinal cord. Today, the effects of Camilla's injuries are such that she has movement and feeling of her arms and wrists. She is regaining some movement to her chest and fingers and has limited sensation but no movement of her legs and body below the chest.
Charles Milbank
In a tremendously unfortunate twist of fate, Charles Milbank (Camilla's father) also suffered a broken neck and damage to his C5 vertebra and spinal cord having fallen down a flight of stairs on a cross-Channel ferry in December 2009 whilst returning home to France having been in the UK to visit Camilla in hospital. Charles' current effects are slightly different to Camilla's (in some ways almost the opposite), he has movement of his legs but very little or no movement of his arms and hands.
So, quite unbelievably, both Charles and Camilla ended up in the National Spinal Injuries Centre at Stoke Mandeville Hospital (via stints in Addenbrokes and Southampton General hospitals respectively).
Update
Since November 2009 Camilla has been able to enjoy weekends out of hospital (both at home in Newmarket and Gloucestershire at Jamie's family home) with the help of 24-hour care paid for by the hugely generous donations of friends, family and many, many more individuals and companies (see Thanks below). After 6 months, Camilla was discharged from Stoke Mandeville Hospital on 26 January 2010, however the challenge ahead remains enormous as she looks to rebuild as normal a life as possible in Newmarket with a constant care requirement for the foreseeable future as well as periodic hospital treatment, ongoing physiotherapy and possibly private residential or outpatient hospital care.
For Charles, the injury is simply too recent to determine the longer term prognosis so at this stage we can but hope for one of the more fortunate and miraculous recoveries.
Thanks
Since Camilla's accident, the response from such a wide variety of people has been nothing short of breathtaking. The generosity so many of you have shown both financially and with your time has humbled Camilla and all those around her who have witnessed and benefitted from it.
Hopefully all those who have helped have felt appropriately thanked but we want to use this forum to thank you again sincerely. It has not been possible for Camilla to write for obvious reasons but I know this is one of her many current targets so watch this space.
In terms of where / how some of the funds you have kindly donated have been used, Camilla has bought an appropriate car and this will shortly be modified to allow her to drive, making a huge difference to her mobility and independence. Camilla has also been able to acquire an excellent wheelchair, lighter and more comfortable than would have been possible without your help. Possibly most critical to date has been the 24-hour care which has been absolutely necessary to allow Camilla to spend time away from Stoke Mandeville and which will become an even more significant drain on funds from now on. These are just a few examples of how you have helped, thank you again.