Introducing independence to Matt
Wednesday, September 24th, 2025
When Matt was admitted to hospital with a spinal injury sustained from a serious cycling accident, he couldn’t speak due to a tracheostomy and his only body movements were small twitches in his foot and the fingers of one hand. With his independence gone, he was facing the isolation and uncertainty of many long months of rehabilitation.
The hospital staff soon established that his greatest fear was not being able to signal for attention. Rosy, one of their speech and language therapists, had heard about our StarGaze service and contacted us to ask if we might be able help Matt with his communication.
Our specialist StarGaze team visited Matt in intensive care and saw enough reliable movement in his right index finger for him to control a precisely positioned small joystick that could move a mouse cursor around a computer screen. They then carefully mounted a button switch beneath the movement in his right foot that he could use as a mouse click.
Using these limited movements, Matt was able select letters and words from an on-screen keyboard on a computer that could speak out messages that were typed into it. He was soon independently making his needs and thoughts heard by creating sentences or selecting from a list of personalised phrases. It was an instant release from the restriction of yes or no responses, and his communication with family, friends and hospital staff was completely transformed.
Image above: Matt’s initial equipment setup. He used his finger and his foot to type on a computer that could speak out his messages. The inset image shows a close-up of his finger-controlled joystick.
This impact of such carefully introduced and highly personalised technology intervention can’t be underestimated. Steve, who’s another beneficiary of our StarGaze service after Guillain-Barré syndrome suddenly left him on a ventilator with very limited movements, said, “It gave me back the first little bit of independence and control over my life, something I could mentally grab hold of and build on. I can’t express what a difference it made.” This feeling of release was also emphasised by Peter, a StarGaze beneficiary who we supported in 2024. “It… gave me a whole new world,” he said, “It gave me loads and loads of freedom.”
What is StarGaze?
Our specialist StarGaze teams travel across the UK to deliver highly specialised life-changing support and equipment loans for people in intensive care following a traumatic injury or illness which results in a severe loss of ability to communicate or move. There are no strings attached to this crucial intervention. It’s exceptionally personalised, there’s no charge, and we give a lifelong promise of support.
Reconnecting with the world
Like many of us, Matt had used technology in almost every part of his life, staying connected online and enjoying podcasts, chat apps and the internet. He’d especially loved watching cycling shows on the Global Cycling Network (think Netflix for cycling). Enabling online interaction with the things he loved had the potential to significantly boost his quality of life and mental health, so our team visited him in intensive care again as he began to regain more functional movement in his right arm.
This time the team helped him to try out a number of joysticks that could make the best of his improving hand and arm movements, and eventually opted for a one with a shape that specifically suited his grip. They also replaced his footswitch with a button switch by his right hand. As before, the team created customised on-screen grids to suit his needs, and Matt began to start reconnecting with the world through isolation-busting online activities.
Image above: Matt’s second equipment setup and two of the screens he was able to navigate. A major part of the setup’s success was the team’s creation of custom on-screen computer grids to give Matt the most efficient access to the things he wanted to do. This level of customisation is almost always important; here, for example, the team created enlarged on-screen scrolling and volume controls as these would otherwise have been very small hard-to-hit targets.
Lifelong support
Like all our services, our StarGaze support is a lifelong promise. Over the following months our team continued to help Matt as he transitioned out of intensive care, supporting him through video calls and remote onscreen grid updates for the appropriate changes he needed.
This consistency of ongoing support by the same team benefits both the people we help and our StarGaze therapists. Nomi, one of our specialist occupational therapists said, “It’s really rewarding to be able to spend time getting to know people, sometimes over several years, building a deep understanding of their abilities and needs as they change.”
Liz, another of our specialist StarGaze therapists agrees, adding that it enables greater recognition of small details. “That’s all-important,” she said. “A support call to setup an extra social media channel on a computer, a small tweak in the settings to make using it slightly easier or faster – we’re able to invest time and expertise in the small details that often make the world of difference to the person, their families and their support teams.”
It’s a positive that’s recognised by the father of Becky, another of our StarGaze beneficiaries: “We felt like we had never-ending support,” he said. “The tweaking and the modifications that Becky so needed all the time … nothing was too much trouble.”
A breakthrough moment
As time progressed Matt was able to use his joystick to access almost everything he’d previously used on his phone. Eventually, on the team’s last visit to him at his rehabilitation centre, it was a fantastic moment to see him using his own phone for the first time without the need for our equipment.
Image: (left) Matt with Sachin, one of our StarGaze team, (right) Matt using a phone with his finger.
A vital partnership
Working in partnership with hospital and care staff is vital to the positive impact of our StarGaze service, and in Matt’s case it was a great privilege to work with Rosie, the wonderful speech and language therapist who helped with facilitating visits, incorporating Matt’s technology on the ward, and guiding us with updates. We simply couldn’t have accomplished such a level of independence for Matt without her and the hospital team.
More than just a technology fix
In 2024 our StarGaze team delivered life-changing support and equipment loans to over 30 hospitals and care settings, working closely with people with severe injuries or illnesses that resulted in the loss of communication and/or movement. The specialist equipment and software that the team employs ranges from small button switches to eye-controlled technology costing many thousands of pounds, and this is backed with expertise that always takes into consideration the wider practicality of the equipment in terms of the beneficiary’s comfort and the demands of the medical environment.
Matt’s journey is further evidence that technology, introduced with care, expertise and dedication, can bring significant improvements in quality of life – not only for those we help who are faced with a sudden and life-changing disability, but also for those who support and care for them.
Can you help?
It costs over £450,000 each year for our team to bring independence and hope through our StarGaze project, and demand for support is rising on average by 50% each year. We don’t charge anything for this life-transforming service, so a monthly donation of just £15 a month will help us provide hope when it matters most.