Melvyn is a single father in his mid- 50s. He has sole custody of his nine-year-old daughter. Melvyn had Melvyn, an accident, which left him with a broken bone in his right lower leg. He made a choice to forego emergency surgery to insert pins as he could not Dorset afford the time to stay in hospital for the extended recovery period, due to the vulnerability of his daughter. Melvyn and his daughter have no other relatives or family in their part of the country, and although he has acquaintances, these are not friends to whom he can trust his daughter’s welfare for extended periods. Melvyn felt compelled to avoid going into hospital for a long period, as this meant his daughter would have had to go into the care of social services temporarily. The wheelchair loan from the Red Cross meant that Melvyn could at least recover at home while retaining sufficient mobility to avoid his daughter going into temporary care and without being confined to the house. Without the option to use a Red Cross short-term wheelchair loan, Melvyn could not have decided to forego surgery to be able to stay at home, with a chance of his leg healing temporarily. He would not have been able to leave the house for at least six weeks and probably longer, and he would not have been in a fit state to ensure his daughter would not be socially isolated during a key part of her development, recovery and social re-integration. There is a risk that going into the care of social services would have had a very negative effect on his daughter’s wellbeing. 18