Perseverance, determination and hard work have put severely physically disabled Narrabri man Philip Foxe on the road to a remarkable recovery.
Philip, in his 50s, originally from Inverell, is the brother of Peter Foxe of Narrabri.
“Philip arrived at Jessie Hunt in 2010, having been in a nursing home in Sydney,” explained Sandy Tapscott who set out to improve her patient’s quality of life.
“Philip had suffered a cerebral accident about 14 years ago which left him completely immobilised, confined to a wheelchair and totally reliant on care.”
The combination of Philip’s determination, the intervention and care from Sandy and for the past two years a program of rehabilitation by physical trainer Jaspreet Singh has effected a dramatic improvement.
“Now Philip can stand up and carry out other physical functions, he is more engaged with people and his sense of humour has returned,” says Sandy.
Now, walking is the next big step for Philip in the months ahead.
This could be called miraculous, but it is a miracle which has been achieved with hard work and determination
“When I first saw Philip he was blind in one eye and had only partial vision in the other,” said Sandy.
“He was confined to a wheel chair and had very little movement and poor balance.
“He needed support on either side to sit up straight.”
Sandy was working with the Young People in Residential Aged Care (YPRAC) a government program and was employed by the Ascent Group, Armidale, for two hours each day.
“Jessie Hunt has enabled me to do this through the YPRAC program which has also funded a $15,000 treadmill for Philip” said Sandy.
“I went to him at Jessie Hunt for three years, taking him out and trying to improve his quality of life,” said Sandy.
“Then I took Philip to Jas because I was aware of his work with people suffering similar kinds of injuries and thought he could help Philip.
“He had been showing slight improvement, but nothing dramatic,” said Sandy.
“That changed after we went to Jas.”
“Sandy saw the potential in her work with Philip at Jessie Hunt,” continued Jas.
“She came over and saw me and said ‘can you help?’
“I replied that we could try together, and for two years we have been
working hard together.
“We tried different things. The first was to get Philip’s confidence back, then start him to sit up, then finally stand.
“We have made progress.
“Now we are working on coordination, on confidence and building trust.
“In six or seven months, we believe Philip will be actually walking on his own.”
Sandy’s initial role was challenging.
“Philip would acknowledge that he was aggressive,” Sandy said.
“He would say ‘hello’ and nothing else.
“His personality change nowadays is amazing.
“Now he will share a joke and initiate conversations. His memory has improved out of sight.”
“Jas took him back to the basics, crawling on the floor with him.
“Now, Philip is almost walking.
“He can stand without support, he can sit and balance himself, he can do bicep exercises without support. He can roll over which he couldn’t do before - it is a very significant improvement.
“This is all down to the therapy program from Jas,” said Sandy.
“Philip calls him the Wizard of Oz.
“His sense of humour has come back. I asked him how he felt after a gym workout session,” said Sandy.
“He replied, ‘stuffed, but glad to be alive’.”
“There has been a dramatic improvement,” said Jas.
“Philip’s’ confidence, interaction with people and physical mobility has improved dramatically.
“He wasn’t able to stand up, sit on his own, lie down, turn around, crawl or roll over by himself.
“Now he can do it on his own without help.
“He can get to and from his wheel chair.
“He makes us laugh. I gave him a glass of water and said ‘have this, it’s a beer.’
“Philip replied, ‘if you think that’s a beer you’re more brain damaged than I am’. “
“We hope Philip’s great progress will motivate more people in a similar situation to start early with rehabilitation and exercises program,” says Jas.
“Phillip’s message is ‘if I can do it anyone can.”
Philip, who rarely can speak above a whisper, adds ‘just get off your backside and do it.’”
“We have made videos of his progress”, Jas said.
“I should be a movie star,” says Philip.