Cork woman’s paramedic husband who was left ‘broken’ by traumatic incident needs proper treatment

A Mallow woman has asked the public to support a fundraiser that will help her husband, a former paramedic, to get vital help for his complex post-traumatic stress disorder in the USA.

Speaking to Patricia Messinger on C103’s CorkToday Show, Sonia Lewington said that her husband Jason has been exposed to years of trauma from his work as a paramedic in the UK and Ireland and that since an incident last year, he has been a “shell of himself”.

Sonia said the incident involved a fatal accident that occurred at a rally where Jason was working as the on-site paramedic. Following this, her husband had to bring the deceased to the morgue and this event “broke” him, after experiencing so many traumatic events in his career in previous years.

She said that Jason’s time working as a paramedic in Liverpool, which saw him deal with dozens of incidents of suicides, cardiac arrests and motorcycle accidents, was particularly difficult for him.

In addition, she and Jason had two babies who were born sleeping, which added to the trauma Jason experienced in his work life.

She said the rally accident led to a change coming over her husband.

“He was very bubbly and outgoing but if you saw Jason now, he’s a shell of himself,” Sonia explained.

Giving an example of how post-traumatic stress disorder has affected Jason on a daily basis, Sonia said her husband fears leaving the house. When she and her husband are out shopping, for example, he is always looking for the nearest exit as he is anticipating something going wrong.

Sonia said that she and the family of Jason, who has also worked as a gym instructor, lifeguard and volunteered in many sectors, have been trying to get appropriate help for him with little success.

She said he was initially referred to North Cork Mental Health Services but they found that Jason, who was “in crisis”, could not get the specialised help he needed to get past his trauma.

She said they have found that there is a lack of counselling services available for paramedics in Ireland and psychiatrists have told them that there is not enough support in Ireland for people suffering from the complex issue which Jason does.

“It’s hard to hear that from the experts, like where does that leave us,” Sonia said.

In order to get support for Jason’s health issue, Sonia has launched a GoFundMe that will hopefully raise enough funds so that he can get treatment available in the USA which may be able to help her husband.

The fundraiser has currently raised over €3,000 and has a target of €50,000.

Those interested in donating to the fundraiser can visit it here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/please-save-my-husband-from-ctpsd

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