RIYADH: Faisal Ahmad Al-Zouwaid paralysed his arms and legs following an accident, but this has not dented his determination to read and write and learn making the best of the situation.

Lying in a bed draped in white covers, Al-Zouwaid, a former army soldier, told a local publication about an accident, he met with some 12 years ago, and which completely changed his life.

“I was serving in Hafr Al-Batin. One day, during Ramadan, I was traveling home from the military camp with two of my colleagues when our vehicle collided with a cement mixer. I was fast asleep when the accident happened and woke up in the hospital with a shattered spinal cord and could not move,” he said.

Al-Zouwaid however refused to give up and committed himself to learning to read and write again, with the help of applications on the Internet. He became active on social media including Twitter and Facebook. He also does some formatting work for businesses.

Nonetheless, Al-Zouwaid has considerable challenges, including finances and health care. He does not own a house and his parents are old. His pension from the army of SR1,800 and social insurance of SR1,500 are not enough to meet his expenses, which includes caring for his young son, Hishaam, who is in grade three, and a person he hired to care for him.

His health challenges include a pump system provided by Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz Humanitarian City to pump the drug Baclofen into his body, which reduces muscle spasms and pain. However, he is forced to travel to Riyadh every three months to refill the pump. The cost of the refill is SR3,000, which he often has to pay himself, forcing him to seek help from family and friends. This is apart from travel costs. He hopes Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz Humanitarian City is able to develop some cooperation with hospitals in Al-Ahsa so that costs and inconvenience for him is reduced. This would be a good situation for all patients in his position, he said.