A ‘fit and healthy’ father says the NHS has ruined his life after being ignored on a hospital trolley for 30 hours and ended up paralysed.
Mike Crease, 46, woke up one morning unable to use his legs after a freak 10-inch abscess had grown on his spinal column.
The father-of-one was rushed to the Countess of Chester hospital – ranked as one of the worst hospitals in the UK – where he claims he was ‘neglected and ignored’ in a corridor.
When he reached a specialist unit it was found the nerves had already been crushed beyond repair.
Now unable to move below his chest, Mike – who used to be ‘an outgoing, independent man who loved the outdoors’ – admits that now every day is a ‘battle’.
He told MailOnline: ‘I’m a prisoner in my own home, severely depressed and mental health at its absolute lowest.’
‘The only time I smile now is when I see my three-year-old son – he turns up and everything bad goes away.’
Harley – who is Mike’s ‘everything’ – is too young to understand that ‘daddy can’t do some things’ but the father said it ‘breaks my heart’ that one day ‘he’ll clock that daddy isn’t standing’.
Mike Crease, 46, was left paralysed after being on a hospital trolley at the Countess of Chester hospital for 30 hours
Doctors removed a large part of his spine to reach the abscess but by then ‘the damage was already done’
‘The only time I smile now is when I see my three-year-old son – he turns up and everything bad goes away,’ he said
The self-employed car dealer has since launched a GoFundMe page to pay for a groundbreaking spinal implant and stem cell treatment abroad after the NHS refused to fund the procedure.
‘I’ve lost my job, my independence, the ability to drive, to play properly with my son,’ he wrote.
‘Now I just sit in my wheelchair pondering, wishing the day away as a recluse in my home, loss of any focus, feeling lost and alone – it’s a horrible way to spend my days.
‘Unable to move freely, work, drive, do the very simple daily things in life or even play with my young son normally has understandably left me and my family absolutely devastated.’
‘Some days I even question if I can keep going,’ Mike confessed. ‘This isn’t the life I imagined.’
‘I want Harley to remember me playing with him, teaching him, holding his hand and chasing him in the park. Not just as his disabled dad,’ he added.
Mike said that ‘if I could walk again, the first thing I’d do is take Harley on holiday and jump straight into the pool together – he would love that but it kills me that I can’t’.
He added that what made his paralysis even harder to accept was that ‘there was no accident, I didn’t do anything. I just woke up one morning and never stood up again’.
Mike has had to battle blood poisoning, infections, bed sores and constant pain during his seven month stay in hospital as well as losing 25kg of muscle to atrophy.
The self-employed car dealer has since launched a GoFundMe page to pay for a groundbreaking spinal implant and stem cell treatment abroad unavailable on the NHS
Last April, Mike – who used to be ‘an outgoing, independent man who loved the outdoors’ – was able to go hiking with friends but is now a ‘prisoner’ in his body
‘I want Harley to remember me playing with him, teaching him, holding his hand and chasing him in the park. Not just as his disabled dad,’ he added
‘It’s been absolute hell.’
Last February, the Care Quality Commission revealed that the Countess of Chester Hospital Trust’s emergency care was at ‘significant risk’ with the ‘safety and dignity’ of patients being compromised.
It came after the hospital was ranked 116th out of the 120 trusts in England for its care.
Inappropriate care settings were also flagged as ‘people receiving care in corridors had become normalised’.
After Mike was ‘neglected’ at the Countess of Chester Hospital Trust, doctors removed a large part of his spine to reach the abscess but by then ‘the damage was already done’.
The father then waited for a bed to become available in a specialist rehab centre but the same day he was offered a space, a nurse discovered a pressure sore on his bottom 3cm wide and deep.
‘It was like a bullet hole,’ Mike said, adding that ‘this could have been avoided if the hospital had given me the correct mattress…the NHS have ruined my life.’
The rehab centre said they were unable to care for Mike’s pressure sore, so his bed was given away and extended his stay in hospital by 100 days.
The dad said: ‘I was screaming for them to let me go home by the end’.
‘I’ve lost my job, my independence, the ability to drive, to play properly with my son,’ Mike said
On the day he was supposed to move to a specialist hospital, a nurse discovered a pressure sore on his bottom caused by an ‘incorrect mattress’
The specialist hospital said they were unable to care for patients with sores and gave his bed away, extending Mike’s hospital stay by more than 100 days
‘Some days I even question if I can keep going,’ Mike confessed, ‘this isn’t the life I imagined’
‘I’m a prisoner in my own home, severely depressed and mental health at its absolute lowest’
A care commissioner said the hospital were Mike visited had been flagged for normalising ‘people receiving care in corridors’
Mike said that ‘if I could walk again, the first thing I’d do is take Harley on holiday and jump straight into the pool together – he would love that but it kills me that I can’t’
And in March the police said they were widening their investigation into Lucy Letby’s killings at the Countess of Chester Hospital where she had worked.
They were looking into corporate manslaughter following her conviction in 2023 but are now also investigating gross negligence manslaughter.
Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust told MailOnline: ‘We are sorry to hear that the experience of Mr Crease did not meet his expectations.
‘We take the confidentiality of our patients very seriously and so we will not comment further in relation to his individual case.
‘We would be very happy to meet with Mr Crease to talk to him about his care, review his treatment and to discuss his experiences at our hospital.
‘Anyone who has a concern about care provided in our Trust is encouraged to contact our Patient Advice and Liaison Service.’
The Department of Health and Social Care said: ‘This is a shocking case – no patient should have to spend 30 hours in A&E waiting to be admitted to a ward and our thoughts are with Michael.
‘The NHS was neglected by years of underfunding but we’re turning it around through our Plan for Change.
‘Backed by a record £26 billion investment, we are fundamentally reforming the NHS to make sure it is there for patients once again, and we’ve instructed the NHS to improve A&E waiting times as a priority.’
Mike is planning to fly to Thailand to get innovate spinal treatment currently unavailable on the NHS where a device is attached to his spinal chord which would reconnect the nerves from his brain to the lower part of his body.