Lainey Cheyne remembers the last conversation she had with her brother Calvin.
“It was on FaceTime the day he got his operation,” she says. “He’d told me it would all be fine, and he’d phone me when he was done.
That was three months ago. The surgery was for something called Chiari Malformation, which is a bulge in the back of the brain that puts pressure on the spinal cord, causing Calvin, 26, severe headaches.
The surgery, at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, went well. But in recovery Calvin choked on a piece of toast, Lainey says.
The toast entered his lungs, which collapsed, and Calvin was rushed to intensive care where he was placed in a medically induced coma.
Since then, Calvin’s lungs have collapsed four times. He remains on a ventilator after undergoing a tracheotomy and can only communicate by mouthing words.
An MRI scan revealed part of his spinal cord and brain stem have been permanently damaged and he may never walk again.
A race to be by Calvin’s side
The incident has turned the Cheyne’s family upside down.
When Calvin was taken into intensive care, Lainey, 28, raced back to Aberdeen from Australia, where she’d been working as a hairdresser, embarking on a marathon 42-hour journey to get to ARI.
Calvin’s partner, Stephanie Summers, and parents Sandra Robinson and Robert Cheyne, are part of a near-constant vigil at his bedside alongside his older brothers Lewis and Ryan.
Also by his side are Stephanie’s parents Helen and Gavin, sister Courtney Summers and her partner Hamish Burr.
Meanwhile, Calvin’s seven-year-old daughter Emily has not seen her dad for 10 weeks as she’s not allowed into the ICU.
“She’s really upset, and it’s difficult to explain to a seven-year-old what’s happening,” Lainey says.
Lainey continues: “[Calvin’s] in a lot of pain. He’s still got feeling in his arms and legs but because his muscles are disintegrating, that’s why he’s getting so much pain. And there’s nothing that we can do to help him.”
Calvin’s family launch £200,000 appeal
On Tuesday, the family launched a JustGiving page to raise £200,000 for Calvin’s recovery.
The extent of that recovery still remains to be seen — doctors are unsure how Calvin’s brain and body will respond to everything that has happened to him.
It will, however, be expensive. For a place at a private recovery unit in London, the family were cited the price of £1,883 a day.
“We realised it was totally outwith our budget,” Lainey says. “We know nobody who’s got £2,000 a day for any sort of rehab and because he’s only 26 we are trying to get the best help we possibly can for him. If it means putting him anywhere in the world, will do it if we can.”
So far, the response has been beyond all expectations. In 12 hours, donations exceeded £10,000 as hundreds on social media shared Lainey’s JustGiving post.
“I never in a million years thought we’d get that in one day,” she says.
‘He was always having a laugh, always having a joke’
The family remains hopeful about Calvin’s recovery. But they are also realistic about what his life will look like from now on.
Lainey says that this all happened just at the point that Calvin, who lives in St Fergus just outside of Peterhead, was making plans for the future — at his oil-and-gas job as an ROV pilot and with his partner Stephanie and daughter Emily.
“It’s going to affect them for the rest of their lives as well,” she says. “It’s just horrific.”
She adds: “He was always having a laugh, always having a joke. And he’s a great dad whose daughter just adores him.
“Him and Stephanie had just moved into a new house and they’ve got loads of plans for the future.
“Now everybody’s life’s just been turned upside down.”
To donate to Calvin’s appeal, click here.
Conversation