Stacey Smith is one remarkable woman but a freak accident at home six years ago nearly did for her. One week before she was due to marry Ivan, she was excitedly coming down the stairs with wedding rings in hand to show off to her son. She fell down the bottom two stairs, cracked her head and life changed forever. Stacey was taken to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge where she spent two months, the first six weeks of which in a coma. Thereafter she spent five months at the Colman Rehabilitation Centre in Norwich before returning home to Great Yarmouth.
Unable to walk and in a wheelchair, barely able to talk and blind in one eye, all direct consequences of the devastating brain injury suffered in the fall. Stacey was pretty much having to start her life from scratch again, re-learning the basic skills that most of us are lucky enough to take for granted. Headway is a UK-wide charity that works to improve the quality of life for those who have suffered brain injury. There hasn’t been a great deal of good luck associated with Stacey’s story thus far but the fact that the charity has a centre in Gorleston, Great Yarmouth was certainly a godsend. And whilst it hasn’t been anything other than a long slog the charity has helped Stacey get through the dark times, assisted her re-education, encouraged her back to college to study computer skills and most recently suggested she look to undertake some voluntary work as a means to re-acquaint herself with the working world.
Six months on and Stacey works three mornings a week at our Great Yarmouth depot. To be honest, with pretty much all of the company’s administration handled at the Burnley head office we aren’t able to keep Stacey as busy as she might choose. But it has been quite an eye-opener getting to know her and to learn about her story. In many ways she has had to be the epitome of patience as she has slowly re-built her life and capabilities but now she is impatient for more. More work. More life experiences. More everything. So now she’s going to jump out of an airplane! Yep. Stacey is planning a charity parachute jump on 7th March to raise funds for Headway. So the least we can do at Gee-Force is to make sure that people know about it. I have to admit that I would NEVER voluntarily jump out of an airplane for charity or otherwise so if she was eventually to change her mind then she would still have my full support and donation to the cause. We feel quite humble that we have been able to play our small part in Stacey’s progress to date but we know that she has a lot more to give. So if that more is via a parachute jump then absolutely all credit to the girl. If you are based in or near to Great Yarmouth and you think that you might be able to help Stacey continue her work experience then please let us know.
And if you are similarly inspired to make a donation to Stacey’s charity parachute jump then this link takes you through to Stacey’s online SponsorMe page http://www.sponsorme.co.uk/staceysmith/.
