Yazmurat has lived in bed for 22 years with open wounds

Doctors at a hospital abroad have reviewed my documents and prepared a plan of about three months. First they will examine the wounds, my spine and my whole body. They will treat the infection and the anemia, bring my diabetes under control and help me regain strength through proper nutrition. Then they will clean and prepare the wounds and, if they decide it is right, operate to close them. After that comes rehabilitation and a plan so that my family can care for me safely at home. Unfortunately, I currently have no practical access to the specialised medical treatment and rehabilitation I need in my circumstances. Because of my condition and my financial situation, I cannot reach a medical facility without a great deal of help. I live on the fourth floor, and someone has to carry me down the stairs.

On 26 April 2004 I was 21. I fell from a horizontal bar and broke my neck. That same year I had two operations on my spine, but the movement in my arms and legs never came back. Since then my family has done everything for me. They wash me, feed me and turn me in bed so that my skin does not break. My mother is 77, and together with my sister she still looks after me every day.

Over the years my body grew weaker. I developed type 2 diabetes and anemia, and I lost much of my weight and muscle. The wounds are the worst. Some are as large as 15 centimetres. My family changes the dressings four times every day. Sometimes the wounds begin to heal, and then lying in the same place opens them again. I also live with asthma, failing eyesight and pain that does not go away.

This treatment can give me the specialised care I have needed for 22 years and a chance for the wounds to close. Without it, everything stays as it is, the dressings four times a day and wounds that never fully heal.

For almost twenty years I did not ask strangers for help. I wanted to manage on my own, with my family beside me. When I see so many sick children who need help, I feel uneasy asking for myself, and I would never want my request to take that chance from anyone. But I have understood that sometimes we have to accept that we cannot do it alone. At 44, after everything, I still have a strong will to live.

If you can, please donate to my treatment. If you cannot, please share my story so that it reaches people who can help.