Great to be home!

BACK home . . . Mohammed Azeem back home and surrounded by family members

Injured dad has waited three years to be back with his family

A father whose neck was broken in a car crash almost three years ago is looking forward to a happy new year after he finally returned home to his family.

Former taxi driver Mohammed Azeem (39) of Cranbrook Street, Oldham, spent nine months in a specialist spinal unit after the crash in Ripponden Road, Moorside, nearly killed him.

It happened on a January night, in 2007, and he was found by a passing off-duty fireman in the road with his car on its roof close by.

He had a broken wrist, dislocated shoulder and broken neck.

The fireman made sure Mr Azeem was not moved until paramedics could assess him, and he was treated at the Royal Oldham Hospital and Hope Hospital, Salford, before going to the specialist spinal unit in Sheffield.

For the past two years he has been looked after at a specialist care home in Rochdale because he has no movement below his shoulders and cannot breathe unaided at night.

His family is delighted he has now come home for good, with help from one carer during the day and two at night, when a special ventilator takes over his breathing.

And his children Vanessa (13), Labecca (11) and Samiul (8) are looking forward to having their dad back again.

Mr Azeem said: “I’ve been waiting for this for a long time.”

His wife Rakhsana Koosar (35) said: “It has been a long fight to get him home. There were negotiations with Oldham Council and the primary care trust.

“We have been waiting and waiting. It was hard visiting him in the care home in Rochdale, and it was difficult with the children, but I had to go because I thought he would just be staring at the walls.”

She has moved house and built an extension with a paved garden area so he can live downstairs and move outside in an electric wheelchair.

She said: “I wanted to stay in the area because I have family here who are well known for having two textile stores.

“Azeem is also well known because he was a taxi driver with Oldham Cars and 6060, and there were loads of visitors at the house when he came home.”

Basit Shah, of Vision Associates, who supported Rakhsana in her negotiations to get her husband home, said: “It has been a struggle, but in the end it was a great Christmas present.”