Aged just 20, Tom Norris was living his dream.
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As a young boy he had always hoped to be a carpenter when he grew up, and after completing his apprenticeship and starting his own business in 2019, work had begun to pick up.
After a nasty infection in his knee took him off the footy field in 2019 he was beginning to feel fit again, competing in first-grade cricket and playing Oztag in his spare time.
Then he found himself paralysed in a hospital bed.
After he felt a twinge in his back at work, Tom went to see a physio. A week after that, he felt tingling in his leg.
"I thought it was a bit weird, so I messaged my physio and he sent me straight to hospital on June 3," Tom said.
"They admitted me and started tests, trying to work out what was going on.
"I went in on the Thursday, on the Sunday my legs gave way when I got up to go to the toilet."
Tom spent the following two weeks lying in a hospital bed with no feeling in his legs, and no answers.
"It was extremely frightening, I'd never felt anything like it," he said.
"They sent blood tests to Adelaide, they couldn't work it out, now we're waiting for results from England."
Doctors suspect Tom may have had an inflamed spinal cord, but they don't know why.
After five days on a steroid drip, he began to recover some feeling, and was moved to Shellharbour Private Hospital to begin rehab.
The formerly fit and active 20 year old had to learn to walk all over again.
"I was in a wheelchair when I arrived," he said.
"At first I had to use a big frame, I'd be sitting on the bed and they'd put me in a harness connected to the frame and it'd stand me up.
"I progressed to crutches, I'm still on crutches now."
Tom was able to be discharged at the beginning of the lockdown, although he continues to see a physio once a week with the goal of strengthening his legs enough to hold his own weight again.
In a time when many in the community are grappling with uncertainty, Tom has found it particularly difficult to imagine what his future will look like post-lockdown.
"I want to get back to carpentry, but I'm not sure at this stage if I'll be able to, which is devastating," he said.
"It's been my dream since I was a kid."
His mum and dad have been there to support him every step of the way, and family friend Kathryn Elliott has established a GoFundMe page to support Tom financially while he focusses on his recovery.
If you would like to support Tom, you can do so at: https://www.gofundme.com/f/tennerfortommynoz
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