SNN_August 2020 Issue FA_low res

NEW ZEALAND SPINAL TRUST 20
All In The Family
The Glentworth Family on Holding it Together in a Time of Crisis
ALL SMILES – Jayden’s friends and family are
happy to have him home in Palmerston North
“You can’t do it on your own” – the Glentworth family’s
advice for parents dealing with the shock of an SCI.
You get the feeling the Glentworth family could get
through anything together. The down-to-earth family of
five (Mark, Kathy, Jayden, Jazz and Zoe) from Palmerston
North are a tight unit. They received the news all parents
dread, when their 15-year-old son, Jayden, had suffered a
suspected broken neck in a mountain bike accident. It
was a moment of total shock, when time stood still.
The past six months has been a roller-coaster journey
with many ups and downs. Hope and despair. Laughter
and tears. Prayer and despondency. The one constant
through it all – they have stuck together.
We recently met with Jayden’s parents, Mark and Kathy,
to talk about the role parents play in helping a teenager
through spinal cord impairment. The impact of the
life-changing injury is still very raw, and hard to talk
about, but they wanted to share their story to help others.
Jayden was 15 when he had his accident what are your
memories from that day?
Mark: He was training for an event and he had been
dropped off at the mountain bike park during the day.
There would usually be a number of phone calls from him
about injuries or mechanicals. I was working when I
received a phone call from Jayden’s phone, and it was the
paramedic. He said there had been a crash; they had been
called up there and the helicopter was en route.
I have been in the NZ Police for 28 years, so I am used to
being involved in traumatic situations, and I knew it was
significant for him to be flown directly to Christchurch.
Fortunately, I was working in Palmerston North so I could
be with Jayden. We were flown directly to Christchurch
and straight into emergency surgery. It was full capacity
at Christchurch hospital, due to the White Island event.
His injury was a T-12 burst fracture, and he had surgery
within eight hours of the accident, which was pretty
remarkable really.
As his parents, what did you think when you received
that call?
Mark: Immediately, I thought how is the next day or next
week going to look? How will the next 10 years look? It was
that big unknown about Jayden’s future, and the impact
on him straight away. But, I realised I had to remain calm,
focused and make good, sound decisions for Jayden
immediately, and also for Kathy and the other family
members.
Kathy: I suppose there was a bit of denial for me, as I am
quite an optimist so, right from the start, I was thinking
that he would be fine. Even though he had been flown to
Christchurch. I suppose we are six months down the track
now, it has been really hard, but I’m still hopeful that
Jayden will recover some more. I suppose everyone deals
with it in different ways, but I am very much a full of hope
person, but it’s been a hard ride that’s for sure.
How was the rehab process for both Jayden and
yourselves, with the slow progress and keeping
up hope?