The 'bathroom' area - the toilet will be fitted here - the shower will be to the right (from where it can reach outside the entrance), there will be a screen that can be opened to give the throne a modicum of privacy

Well we had another site visit last week, ostensibly to check how hand-controls might fit. Defenders have never had the most room for drivers, especially between the driver and the door. The Puma model is no different in that, plus the dash is slightly closer to the driver too. What was immediately apparent  (at least for someone with long legs) was that there is no room to reach behind the wheel to grasp a hand control. (The space being taken up by steering wheel rim and knee.) The windscreen wiper stalk also invades  space that would need to be utilised by a hand control kit.

Defender Jeff Gosling Hand Controls

We then iphoned the Jeff Gosling website. You recall that we were looking at their hand controls as their site has a picture of a Puma Defender fitted with their kit (as above). It was Paul [OEC] who now spotted that they had fitted a smaller diameter steering wheel. Paul explained that if we were to go down this route then we would need to make sure that we got one that was up to the job. Many it seems, will simply bend if used to e.g. lever one into or out from the cab. OEC recommended QT services (of ‘the Wildcat’ fame). It turned out that his was exactly the same wheel that Jeff Gosling have in their picture!

OEC then called Jeff Gosling Ltd to get some more detail. Anton was surprised when they insisted, in  no uncertain terms, that they would need to oversee such a fitting, as it was ‘special’ in the case of a Land Rover Defender. This was an entirely different message from the week before, when the same company had advised that the hand controls could be ordered and fitted as a kit “no problem”. [Of course the compromise here is to check with GM Coachworks who are agents for Jeff Gosling, and OEC work with them quite often.]

So the job gets a little bigger – as is the way of these things…..  Which caused me to (re)think about the viability of a left foot accelerator as an option. It would certainly save any need to replace the steering wheel and trim the wiper-stalk. Key would be the adjust-ability of the pedals (either of the accelerator unit or the brake).

Left foot accelerator as sold by Jeff Gosling

We decided to get GM to advise with me ‘in-situ’ as it were – at least then we can make the plan and get cracking. OEC are looking to pull out all the stops  to complete by the end of July (which will undoubtedly be tight). Both options will work for me I’m sure – but of course all involved want to be sure of the detail before committing both time and expense!

Regardless we should have more room in the cockpit, once the vinyl seats are replaced with Exmoor Elites on extended runners. We thought a lot about seats but inevitably they are so important that we decided not to compromise (although the rear row will remain in the OEM pragmatic vinyl).

We also agreed the colour of the pod’s upholstery (‘something drab, neutral that won’t show the dirt for us! OEC do advise that anything is possible though.).

Azalai pod towards the kitchen area

The pod is really starting to take shape. Much plumbing and wiring is in, the taps and filters are about to go in, and in general it is now starting to look like a finished Azalai.

Anton also advised that the OEC crew were meeting early this week to agree a strategy for the tail-lift. We confirmed that the design priority is to get me in and out easily and reliably – any load carrying ability would be a bonus.

It was a very worthwhile meeting as the build moves towards the beginning of its end.

Tags: adaptation, Azalai, Build, disability, Equipment, GM Coachworks, O.T., OEC, Specification, Vehicle, wheelchair

Not much to report, current completion estimate is 5-6 weeks (August in essence). Work is continuing on the pod (probably an understatement). Martin (OEC) has liaised with Gosling regarding the hand-controls and current thinking is to get them fitted at OEC. The tail-lift/access is still to be cracked – but we are all in the same ball-park regarding the sort of thing we need.

Inside the cut-out Azalai pod

We had a second fund-raising and logistics meet, and a few events are firming-up in concept. Of course we’ll be circulating details of those on the site (and any other means possible!) as they come to fruition.

Both Rachel and I have advised work (Torbay Care Trust) of our plans [to take a career break] and found them to be very supportive. To be fair in the current climate we are probably doing the country a favour as we’ll be saving the public purse the salary outlay for the duration; plus we are spending loads in the private sector in the meantime! (Albeit that a large proportion is borrowed money.) Of course there is a risk, as despite whatever policy is in place, we are, strictly speaking, leaving our jobs.

Rachel and Paul check out the finished Ashcroft conversion

Rob Cooksley also made a fantastic donation to www.motivation.org.uk via our just giving page. Money donated this way goes straight to Motivation. Obviously anything and everything is welcome as it all counts (from pennies upwards). Plus if you are a tax payer there’s something perversely satisfying about seeing the gift-aid element clawed back from the Revenue, right in front of your eyes! Try it, trust me it works….

Tags: adaptation, Azalai, Build, Charity, disability, Equipment, motivation, OEC, Vehicle, www.motivation.org.uk

A bit of a self-indulgent ramble here (which I suppose is a definition of ‘blog’ so no harm done…..)

Avon Ward, home for a year....

Just been up to Salisbury Hospital (Odstock) to the Duke of Cornwall Spinal Injuries Centre for my bi-annual check-up. It’s always a strange experience, I think because of its obvious, direct, personal association with [my] spinal injury – which of course in itself is a strange experience. After 24 years little seems to have changed. The decor may be uplifted, the equipment may be digital and many of the old faces may have left (but by no means all) – but it retains the same abstract character it always has done.

And abstract is another appropriate adjective. Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury, in the acute stages at least is certainly just that. Anyone can be changed in an instant, courtesy of accident, misfortune, act of violence or misadventure. You will lose all of life’s normal reference points the moment you go down and struggle as you might, there is no way to re-establish what you knew. All that awaits you and your random compadres is a bizarre re-birthing as you enter the world of the ‘cripple’ (I recall that was our own self-effacing vernacular of choice, back in the day) .

Duke of Cornwall SIC, Odstock

We were mainly late teens and early twenties, some sporty, some reckless, others feckless. The pastimes of that generation ensured proportional representation. The few girls amongst our number were inevitably those who’d been dumped or squashed by horses. The chaps diving, biking or other sports, but mainly car and motorbike accidents. However fate’s ‘PR’ meant (tragically) that the youngest was seven and the eldest was seventy. The youngster had dived onto a settee (we’ve all done it have we not?) and was impaled on a knitting needle, piercing into his cervical spine and rendering him tetraplegic. Our senior member had retired from a lifelong career in the merchant navy ‘man and boy’. His paraplegia was a result of falling down a stairway on a cross channel ferry whilst returning from holiday. How ironic is that? I’ve talked to people who ‘died’ (drownings mostly after diving into shallow depths of water) and found the experience most serene – I don’t have anything to add to that – but thought it ‘noteworthy’ and possibly of interest.

I myself was flown up there from Torbay Hospital by the Navy in a Sea King. Blinkered by an immobilising frame and skull traction, a load of injected drugs and acute disturbance to the senses – I arrived at Odstock (“and where is that exactly?”) completely disorientated. (It was to be at least four months until I was to get (or be got) out of bed, let alone get my bearings back again) I was wheeled supine from the heli-pad to an isolation ward where newbies were quarantined for MRSA screening for a day or two. The first thing I can recall being asked was “When do you go to the toilet?” I remember thinking “WTF?” as to be honest that really was the least of my worries and concerns at the time. Besides, didn’t everyone just go when they needed to? (Part of the re-birthing is the acquisition of new and adapted skills and ‘routine’ – but bowel care and the like is not something that one has insight into at the acute stages – and why would you?!)

A bed in the Acute Ward

It was also my first introduction to Paula Crawford (SEN) who was to be my ‘primary nurse’ for the duration on ‘Avon Ward’ (mirroring ‘Tamar Ward’). Paula, along with many of the staff was an absolute star. She had been working at the D of C pretty much since since it had opened in ’84. I found out later I was her first ‘primary patient’. I’ve struggled to stay in touch after all these years, mainly because I’m a bit crap at doing stuff like that, but on reflection, partly because success of the Unit (and rehab in general) pushes you away from explicit and implied dependency. Paula stayed at the Unit for many years, she became RGN and then a Ward Sister. Latterly she specialised in plastics and skin/pressure care and I believe she is still with Salisbury Hospital practicing in that specialism. She later married Tim (who was an occasional Nurse auxiliary on the Unit at my time, but he subsequently trained as an Occupational Therapist) – and indeed, today is I believe, the birthday of their eldest child.

I don’t know if any of this makes sense in the context of the blog, but maybe it’s because it actually doesn’t make any sense at all. As I started by saying – the Unit is different but the same – I just want to convey how mad and topsy-turvy acute spinal cord injury can be at all levels. Something like MASH, Porridge and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest all rolled into one funny yet macarbre, living parody. I really don’t think that has changed at all since 30/11/86. I suspect the demographics, the randomness and the gamut of shock, realisation and rehab (our euphemistic re-birthing) are all still there – like a living ghost (if that’s not too oxymoronic).

It’s in recognition of this, and the fact that Paula and her colleagues, together with their successors, manage to guide us ‘cripples’ through all of the nonsense to at least the point where opportunity can once again knock – that I’m toying with naming the Landie ‘Paula’. Now I’m not sure that cars should really have names, and I’m even less sure that it’s actually flattering to have one named after you – but I do know that I could not undertake the Indlovu Drive without acknowledging my time at the D of C (a year after all) and any positive effect it has had on my own character and ability to manage my subsequent disability. So ‘Paula’ it is on behalf of all of those working in the fields of acute and longer-term spinal cord injury rehab.

Oh, and if you are interested, after the usual kidney X-rays and ultrasound, I still have a clean bill of health.

supporting www.motivation.org.uk

Tags: biography, disability

Early last week,  I’d tapped Anton as to whether he could give a revised guestimate on completion (essentially for the purposes of our own planning). The gist of the reply was, “The auto box has just been completed… hoorah
It took Martin 15 days… however that said it is very good… rest assured.  At the end of the process we sent Mr Ashcroft [David of Ashcroft Transmissions] a list of things to consider for the future! Paul is working on your Azalai [pod] at the same time.  We have made some cute improvements for which I hope you don’t mind… For example including an outside light for underneath the awning, a new console / electronics system. Redesigned water and waste tanks with all copper hose tails, aluminium finish on the roof etc etc… little details I hope improves the Azalai no end. To be honest it would take a wee while to wander around and show you all the improvements and extras. Admittedly I haven’t decided on the rear tail lift system… Justin compiled a complete list for me and to be honest we haven’t decided…..
Timescales… I shall consult the boys … at the moment I have someone working full time on yours when ever possible….”

So clearly a lot to take in – so last Friday we popped in again unannounced (over lunchtime) to see progress for ourselves and grab a few pictures. Paul was at lunch but still came in to talk us through the work and challenges to date (sorry Paul for disturbing your lunch but thanks for the in-depth breakdown – it was appreciated and insightful).

The Gear Selector Lever evidences the auto gear-box conversion, the cowling is still removed. The 'mode' button is a legacy from the Range Rover donor vehicle and is redundant in the Defender.

As Anton had advised the auto-box conversion was now in and ‘plumbed’. But no one expected it to take fifteen days! (Even accounting for the first one having been written off by the courier putting a fork-lift through the pallet.) OEC explained that the kit arrived with no instruction, and that several connections and junctures did not mate with the Puma engined Defender out of the box (nor with some post out of the box mods either!) Notably:

• the connections to the transmission oil cooler had been completely re-engineered by OEC,
• Ashcroft subsequently sent a modified connector fork for the Gear Selector lever as that wouldn’t fit (too wide)
• and some work was needed to re-jig the hi-low selector mechanism to stop that lever being impeded by the dash console.

A neat reversing camera has been fitted to the pod

The oil cooler connectors sounded the most spectacular, as on ‘take one’, when the engine was fired up, oil was sprayed all over the garage! (The evidence of that could still be seen in the immediate vicinity, despite the clear-up.)

All said and done though, the unit looks the part, and as Paul said, “It’s like it is meant to be there” – which is a tribute to Ashcroft Tramsmission’s work in developing this mod – which of course is essential for me, with regards to adapting the vehicle so I can actually drive it. Now it’s in we can look at sorting the hand-controls’ fitting – we think via GM Coachworks in conjunction and cooperation with OEC.

It seems (with my reading between the lines) that the kit might not have been fitted to many Puma engined Defenders to date, outside of Ashcroft’s own workshops. I think OEC enjoyed the learning, and were certainlty  pleased with the finished job, but they did indeed have some feedback for Ashcroft Transmissions that might yet improve the experience for future fitters! All that’s left (and again testament to the diligence and attention to detail of OEC) is to fit a light to the gear selector array, as this was omitted from the kit.

Bull Elephant (Indlovu) blowing his nose, Imfolozi April 2009

We also found out that Anton worked, “….In Hluhluwe Umfolozi [park in KwaZuluNatal], Kruger National Park and all over… another tale for another day”. We didn’t get a chance to catch-up on that yet – but we would be interested in hearing of what he was doing whilst at Hluhluwe Umfolozi – it really is a special place and worth spending some time getting to know if you are ever in KZN. We have certainly accrued a fair few weeks there over the years – and we intend it to be the official start-line of the Indlovu Trans-Africa Drive.

Tags: adaptation, Ashcroft, Azalai, Build, disability, Equipment, GM Coachworks, OEC, Specification, Transmission, Vehicle

“The other children include me now. I can easily visit my friends and get to school. My wheelchair can cope with the rough ground here. It's good to have a chair that fits me, an adult's wheelchair would be too difficult to push.”

As well as staying in touch with the vehicle build, we have been very busy behind the scenes as we plan our fundraising strategy. We are drafting brochures, letters and press releases. These will soon be ready to inflict on the public domain. (I’ll be incorporating a downloads page into the site imminently.)

As well as taking a fair bit of time (the usual ‘whatever you estimate, times two and add a bit’), this work has been quite cathartic for me. In attempting to get quite a lot into very little space, I’ve had to think long and hard about what it is exactly, that we are trying to achieve as part of the whole exercise. I’m quite sure that I don’t have all of the answer yet – and I am sure it will be multi-faceted and complex even if we do get there – but it has become quite clear that the chance to raise awareness and funds for Motivation has become something of a personal and passionate cause.

I think this is because I have finally acknowledged that without the formal support (health and social care, the RFU Injured Players Fund, Anti-discrim’ legislation, accessible built environments  etc) and informal support (friends, family and other well-wishers) that I have enjoyed since my accident way back in ’86 – my life would probably have ended rather prematurely (or at the very least been a bit shit). Further, I’ve accepted that in this respect, complacency in the virtue of birth and geography is not a sustainable cognition. I have lived with a dissonance caused by ignoring the obvious and inconvenient truth, that for many disabled people in developing countries,  life doesn’t work out as rosy as it did for me.

To that end please take some time to download the linked file regarding Motivations 20th Anniversary campaign ‘Wheels Out of Poverty’ . The target is to raise £500,000 over the next 18 months to help 5,000 people across Africa – many of the projects are in countries that we will be traversing.

“Soon Motivation will celebrate its 20 year anniversary. They have come a long way and, with their wheelchair and empowerment projects, are reaching more people than ever. Wheels out of Poverty will help 5,000 people enjoy happy, healthy and productive lives – away from poverty. £500,000  over 18 months is the target to achieve this.

• It costs just £120 to provide a wheelchair
• £5,000 can buy tools and materials to set up a wheelchair workshop
• £10,000 enables us to establish a wheelchair service and train staff
• and technicians to prescribe, build and fit wheelchairs
• £25,000 could support a network of wheelchair services throughout Africa

There are thousands more children and adults denied the life changing benefits of a good wheelchair. Early intervention is so important, please help before it’s too late for another young person.”

Click this link to get to a download page –  Motivation’s 20th anniversary campaign is especially relevant to the Indlovu trans-Africa drive

Go on, it’s a quick read and very informative – did I mention we have a just giving page on the site too now?…….

Tags: biography, Charity, disability, Ethics, funding, Info, motivation, O.T., philosophy, reading, Sponsorship, wheelchair, www.motivation.org.uk