Help me recover!

Thank you for visiting my support webpage. My name is Callum Watson and I am a Cross Country Skier and represented Australia in the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics. After the Olympics, myself and fellow team mate Phillip Bellingham decided to relocate to Falun, Sweden. We accepted the offer to join Dala Sports Academy where we began working with our new Coach Mattias Nilsson. During the European Spring I made some amazingly rewarding progress in many areas resulting in some results that showed a lot of promise. Finally I had the confidence that I was on the path to achieving my goal of a top 30 on World Cup which I am regularly told I have the potential to reach.

Unfortunately during the National Sprint Championships here in Australia I had a major accident. I clipped skis with another skier and fell in the path of the skier behind me. With no-where to go, his ski hit my chest, which unluckily managed to penetrate between my ribs and puncture my lung. With a severely collapsed right lung I then had an emergency chest tube put in place at Falls Creek Medical Centre who have already kindly assisted me with part of that medical bill. I was then flown to the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne to undergo treatment by their Trauma team.

I sit here now in the same hospital bed 11 days later. I had a few incidents which set me backwards a little but with one in particular being the most traumatic and painful experience of my life. Gladly now I feel like I am on the home stretch. I had an operation 2 days ago which successfully sealed the hole in my lung and now I am waiting for the 3^rd chest tube to complete its work by draining the remaining fluid and air from my chest.

Finally I am pain free enough to start thinking about the future. My coach believes even with the recovery time required from such an injury, I will be able to ski much faster than I ever have and should keep my eyes positively focused towards my original goals set for this World Cup Season and World Championships in Falun. With all the medical costs involved, especially with the ambulance helicopter flight to Melbourne, I have found myself in an impossible financial state. I have been working as a coach for the state team and other schools throughout the winter to help fund my racing career, however this accident has affected my annual earnings significantly. I am forced to be unable to work for this end part of the season, however with all the ‘Interschool’ events taking place during this period, I am missing more than half of what I thought I could earn during my time back in Australia.

I have the determination to get myself back to racing at the level I was before the accident and am confident in my coach’s positive approach in what I am capable of. Please help me make this all financially possible. I am grateful for any support that can be given as I feel I am far from finished as an athlete but have unluckily landed in a position where I cannot continue without the generous assistance of others.

Thanks for you understanding, below is the link to my fundraising webpage:

http://www.gofundme.com/djob50

Callum Watson