A fall left a new dad paralysed. Now he’s fighting to rebuild his life

Paralysed in a freak fall just months after becoming a father, Brandon Bonavia is finally home for his first Christmas as a family and he’s holding on to hope that a life-changing treatment could help him regain his independence.

The 38-year-old and his wife Gabriella, 32, were newly married and over the moon about their baby boy, Alex, when their lives were torn apart two and a half years ago.

On June 5, 2023, Brandon returned home after running errands and suddenly collapsed on their terrace, possibly because his blood pressure dropped. He remembers nothing after that moment.

The fall left him with catastrophic spinal-cord damage and paralysed from the shoulders down. Doctors initially told the family he would never walk again.

Since that day, Brandon has lived apart from his wife and his little boy, confined to Karin Grech Rehabilitation Hospital as he fights desperately to regain his independence.

He has made remarkable progress, now able to take a few steps and move some fingers but remains hugely dependent.

Home for Christmas

This December, thanks to a new lift installed at home, Brandon is finally returning to his own home for the first time since the accident, which is a huge milestone for the devoted family.

But the couple are clinging to hope for an even greater breakthrough: life-changing stem cell therapy abroad that could boost Brandon’s chances of regaining the movement he lost and playing with his son.

Brandon can push his son Alex on the swing but can’t help him on the slide. Photos: Bonavia Family

“This treatment would increase my independence and open doors for me to play an active role in the life of my son and be there for my wife and, maybe, go back to work,” Brandon told Times of Malta on the day he returned home. “I don’t expect to be running marathons but I can be a bit more independent. My wife is like my angel but she is carrying all the weight. I am limited in what I can do. This is our third Christmas married but the first one in our home.”

At the time of the accident, little Alex was just two months old and his wife was putting him down for a nap. Brandon went to the kitchen, filled a glass of water and went onto the terrace. He sat on a chair, lost consciousness – possibly because his blood pressure dropped, doctors said later – and fell forward off the chair.

“When I regained consciousness in what must have been a couple of seconds, my face was on the floor and I could barely breathe,” he says. “I tried to get up and could not. I started panicking. My face was against the balcony wall. I managed to turn my face a bit and started calling my wife and calling for help.”

Gabriella arrived and found him on the floor, unable to feel his legs or arms. He was rushed to Mater Dei Hospital, where tests and scans showed a spinal cord injury at C3 and C4, with bulges at C5 and C6.

He was later transferred to Karin Grech, where he spent months unable to move except for limited neck movement.

Walking again

After one operation to replace a damaged disc, and another to install a medical pump to ease painful muscle stiffness, Brandon began intensive therapy.

By March this year, he was able to walk with a rollator and play with his son.

Then, suddenly, in April, it was “like a switch went off” and he regressed. Tests revealed that a bulge at C5 and C6 had compressed his spine. He was back to square one and could no longer move except for limited movement in his hand.

Alex Bonavia was just two months old when his father was left paralysed by a fall at the family home. Photos: Bonavia Family

Another surgery in June brought slow improvement. He can walk a few steps alone and needs help to stand or get in and out of bed but doctors say Brandon’s progress has now plateaued.

Desperate for more, the couple have looked abroad. Specialists have recommended stem cell therapy in Vienna, followed by intensive rehabilitation using exoskeletons and advanced biofeedback to stimulate movement. These treatments are unavailable in Malta.

The procedure, which involves harvesting stem cells from Brandon’s bone marrow and injecting them into his spine, offers hope.

Costly treatment

Each round of treatment costs between €55,000 and €70,000 and Brandon would need up to three sessions, plus four months of crucial rehab at around €2,000 a day in Germany or Switzerland, on top of travel costs.

In total, the family needs around €300,000.

Since the accident, Gabriella has shouldered the burden, working full-time while caring for Alex and visiting her husband every day. They even sold their car and replaced it with a van she could drive.

“I’ve been away from my family for almost three years,” Brandon says. “It breaks my heart when Alex starts crying and clinging to me and says, ‘Why do you always leave me?’ Since he was born, I’ve bounced from one operation to another and it was difficult to be part of his life. I can push him a bit on a swing but can’t help him onto a slide. When he tells me to get up and play with him, I can’t. What people take for granted – we struggle with.”

Now with Brandon finally home for Christmas, the couple are holding tight to hope and asking for support from the public.

Anyone who wishes to support Brandon can do so through the crowdfunding page gogetfunding.com/help-for-medical-treatment-6/.