Father left wheelchair-bound after bad reaction to injection

A young father who has been crippled with pain since receiving routine hospital treatment has pleaded with Barnet Council to rehouse his family.

Father-of-two Mike Freedman, 28, has been wheelchair-bound since New Year's Day last year, when he reacted to a pain-killing injection in Barnet Hospital after being admitted for an operation to remove his appendix.

Doctors say his condition may improve but, in the meantime, he has lost his job as a computer programmer, leaving his family reliant on benefits and, he says, "trapped" in a house that is too small for them.

Mr Freedman, of Midsummer Court, off Cranmer Road in Edgware, said: "Life is non-existent now. I have no independence living here - I can't access my kitchen or my bathroom and I can't move about.

"I'm used to being independent but now I'm reliant on other people for everything, from cleaning to getting me in the wheelchair. Every time I move a muscle in my back it's agony, so I have to try to sit or lie still.

"I'm trying very hard to get some kind of life, to keep some kind of order. But I need a bigger place to live."

Barnet Council housing officers have been working with Mr Freedman and his wife Sarah, but are unable to offer them a three-bedroom house, which they say they need.

A spokeswoman said: "We are sympathetic to Mr Freedman's disability and have accorded his medical needs the maximum weight we can in offering him new accommodation."

Mrs Freedman, 32, said she was struggling to cope looking after her husband and their two children, aged five months and two years.

"He can't get around or get in the shower," she said. "I have to assist him on the toilet and the council won't give us anything bigger than the flat we've got, because we've only got two kids. It basically doesn't want to know about it.

"We live a fairly sad existence. We feel trapped. We've exhausted every way of trying to improve things and nothing seems to help. We've got really stressed out living like this."

Councillor Brian Gordon, who represents Hale ward where the Freedmans live, said he had no doubt they needed a three-bedroom property and has been trying "desperately" to help them resolve it.

He added: "The extent to which the council will be able to bridge the gap between the family's own funds and the rent they will have to pay remains to be seen.

"Council officers are doing all they can within the resources available and the rules that apply."