Welcome to Kick4Rick.com
Welcome to Kick4Rick.com, a website named after Ricky Fernandez but set up to publicise a fund raising event that is going to take place on Saturday 6 June 2009 to raise money for the Wessex Neurological Unit. Please note that this is a change from the previously advertised date of 21 March 2009. The reason, after venue complications we have now secured the Southampton De Vere Grand Harbour Hotel.
So why name it after Ricky Fernandez? The reason is simple; on 11 August 2007 Ricky had a motorbike accident that so nearly cost him his life. His injuries were so bad that many hospitals wouldn't have even taken him as a patient. To give you an idea of just how serious the injuries were Dr Andy Eynon, Director of the Neurosciences Intensive Care Unit since October 2002, said this was the most severe case he has ever seen.
Yet following a long period in hospital (primarily in the Neurosciences Intensive Care Unit, Neuro High Dependency unit), some of the most amazing medical care you could imagine, unfaltering support from family and friends, and the will to live from Ricky himself, he is now mobile again and living at home. Whilst he is still recovering from the injuries sustained in the accident, it is nothing short of miraculous that he has recovered this well so far.
During his time in hospital anybody who had contact with the Neurological Centre in Southampton General Hospital couldn't help but be touched by the care of the staff and the way they deal with patients in highly challenging and emotional conditions.
Special thanks to - all the staff at the Wessex Neurological Centre that looked after Ricky and nursed him back to health, Dr Andy Eynon (for making the decision to admit Ricky and treat him), Dr Phil Hyde (a volunteer Doctor from BASICS Hampshire), Dr Kevin Wheal (who made it from Gosport to the scene of the accident in Winchester in 11 minutes), and the two off duty junior doctors who first attended the scene and administered emergency first aid.
The care Ricky received from the scene of the accident to the moment he left the hospital on 19 November 2007 was second to none, and has ultimately resulted in him recovering to the levels he has. However, whilst the Wessex Neuro Unit is regarded as one of the finest in the country, it operates under cash constraints not uncommon to the public sector. With that in mind, family and friends were united in the thought that it would be nice to give something back to the unit that invested so much time and money to save Ricky's life. Plans for the charity dinner dance (inc. auction) then started to take shape. Thank you for taking the time to visit this site, and I sincerely hope you join us in the worthy cause of raising money for the Wessex Neuro Unit.
