Devon man's campaign for South West's first hospice for young adults
Christian Bandicoot, who's 34, has a rare muscle-wasting condition and was never expected to reach adulthood
A man from Brixham in Devon, whose muscles haven’t grown since birth has started a campaign to build the South West's first ever hospice for young adults.
Christian Bandicoot, who’s 34, has a rare muscle-wasting condition called Spinal Muscular Atrophy, and was never expected to reach adulthood.
Christian's brother Jonny was also affected by the disease, and died when he was just 16.
He told us there wasn’t much help available back then:
"Thanks to medical advancements in technology, many of us are living well beyond what any of our doctors had expected. This is a great thing but sadly many of us feel that now that we have reached adulthood, it is almost like we have been forgotten about as no one had foreseen that we would make it this far and there are no places for respite for anyone older than 18.
"I would like to change this and help everyone across the UK have access to somewhere that is fully accessible for respite. Being physically disabled makes it extremely difficult to find accessible holiday destinations as some people require more than wheelchair access like for instance an electric bed to help with positioning and comfort, so to have a young adult hospice would be the best solution for so many people, it is something that all families and carers have been requesting for many years."
Christian explains his vision for the hospice: “It’ll be somewhere in the South West, I’m hoping in Plymouth because it’s more central.
“It’ll be somewhere people can go for respite.”
You can view Christian's fundraiser here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/nhqnm