Family launches fundraising battle for care of teen in crash

17-year-old Jack Carter, from Swindon, suffered life-threatening injuries after the car he was in left the road and struck a tree near Chiseldon on Monday, July 24.

While being airlifted to Southmead Hospital in Bristol he was given a 'whole blood' transfusion which kept him alive long enough to get there. 

On arrival, he remained in a critical unstable condition for nine days and needed several surgeries on his right side, as well as life-saving brain surgery on August 2. 

Police at the scene of Jack's crash (Image: Dave Cox)After this, Jack was left with a traumatic brain injury and remained in intensive care at Southmead for five weeks, before being transferred to the Great Western Hospital's ICU for around a month. 

Proving his family right when they described him as "the strongest boy they knew", Jack survived this ordeal and is now receiving vital treatment from a specialist rehab centre aimed towards helping people recover from injuries like his.

However, Jack's family have been told that the government funding for this specialist care is due to run out, which has left them with no choice but to set up a GoFundMe page to ask for financial help so it can continue. 

The unit costs £4,500 a week but the family has only asked for £10,000 to keep Jack where he is and thanks to many generous donations they have already almost reached that target.

A young Jack with his mum (Image: Mia Carter)Jack's sister Mia Carter, 20, set the page up, telling the Adver: "I would do anything to help my brother."

In the emotional plea that she included on the fundraising page, Mia wrote: "This is such a cruel and unpredictable journey, of which we have been, and are, living every single day with the hope that our Jack will come back to us.

"The twisted nature of grieving for somebody who is still alive, while not knowing what the future holds… is something my parents and I are still trying to navigate. Our lives continue to be on pause while the world keeps turning. We hope for a changed Jack, but our Jack and we have to help him all we can to do this."

You can donate to the GoFundMe page here: https://gofund.me/7d49158e

Jack with his mum and dad and grandparents (Image: Mia Carter)

Mia explained: "Due to the nature of his injuries, he has to be in that special unit because he needs help to allow him to do the daily things we all take for granted."

At this unit, it is hoped Jack receives a combination of nursing and care and therapies and it is hoped he will eventually be able to learn to walk, talk and carry out normal day-to-day things. 

"If we didn’t get the money, he wouldn’t receive the care that he needs in order to get better," Mia said. "He wouldn’t be able to progress to where he needs to."

When asked what Jack was like, Mia said her brother is "the most amazing, the most driven, the most loyal, friendly person I’ve ever met".

She added: "If there was someone in the corner of the room that was being picked on or different in any way he would defend them. He cared for people deeply."

Mia holding Jack's hand in hospital (Image: Mia Carter)

Mia explained that the days immediately following the crash and the subsequent months have been incredibly hard, but the family has received an incredible amount of support from friends, family, the police and Kingsdown School. 

"My parents and I are so immensely grateful for all the outpouring of love and prayers we have received for Jack over the last 4 months."

She added: "My brother is the centre piece of my family and we have been lost without him. We love you Jack Jack more than you will ever know. And we will continue to fight for you until the end of time."