Meet Tom, who is now 28, but fell off a roof when he was 22. He says it’s a miracle that he’s alive – he speaks 3 languages and he’s managed to complete a masters since his injury, but now employers struggle with providing him with the support he needs. Tom will make you laugh and cry in this candid conversation!
Sameena was 61 when a tumour was found on her optic nerve in June 2023, following a loss of sight in one eye diagnosed at a diabetes eye screening. She had surgery on 23rd August 2023 to remove the tumour, but she has been left with a brain injury as a result of the surgery.
Amy is 36 and she suffered a traumatic brain injury TBI) from a road traffic accident in 2015, when she was run over by a motorbike when she was 28.
Amy wants to add this information about her life now to the podcast:
“What I did not get to go into detail about in my podcast but is the backbone to the recovery I made and still am making, is thanks to my more than amazing family, partner at the time and friends who straight after my accident came together to visit me every day in hospital and took it in turns to cook me lunch and dinner whilst I was there. Then when I made it out of rehab for many of the following months someone would stay the night with me, so I wasn’t alone in my flat. Still almost 9 years on my family, partner and friends are key to my abilities to live the happy and fulfilled life I do, I cannot thank each of them more for this.
My problem with language: I have written the following myself over a few weeks and have not wanted anyone else’s input. To show how my language is affected even when I take time to write something. However since acquiring my Brain injury, I have completed an NVQ Level 2 in Dementia Care, TQUK Level 2 in Customer Service, so I may not have the academic abilities I used to. I graduated in 2010 from Leeds university with a 2:1 in International History but I am still more than able.
Workwise-I will not give up on my goals of working in the third sector. As even with an ABI with the right support and understanding of how this affects my abilities to do my job, I am more than able to be a valuable part of the team and company I work for.
I also continue to improve my strength and coordination. I was fed through a tube straight after my accident and only started to eat mash able food 12 weeks later, as couldn’t swallow before then. I couldn’t stand or walk for at least 10-12 weeks. But as I say, I walked in heels after 4 months and now after 9 years I am so much more coordinated and stronger. As of this year 2024 I can lift a 20kg weight without help.
I mention my love for travelling and seeing the world is still a key part of my life. I’m just more a passenger rather than organiser of holidays now, which I am realising has benefits. To name a few places I’ve been lucky to visit since my accident, I have toured around California, Bali, Sri Lanka, Spain and Portugal.
Thank you for taking the time to listen and read my life story so far.
Amy”
Joy had a stroke on 11th April 2018, also called a subarachnoid hemorrhage. She has had 3 aneurysms shortly followed by a vasospasm. As a result, she had several operations, the aneurysms were coiled, and a VP shunt inserted. The shunt is situated in her brain and releases CSF fluid into her abdominal cavity.
Marie-Claire was 42 when she suffered an aneurysm in November 2015. She has a first class degree in maths, she ran her own business and lived with her husband and 2 daughters, but this all changed dramatically as a result of her brain injury. She tells us candidly about how her brain injury has transformed every aspect of her life, but most strikingly her relationships and her ability to use number, as she now has acquired dyscalculia.
My name is Andrew,
When I was 32, a month before my 33 rd birthday (2013) I had a fall. I fell down 1 flight of stairs, and knocked myself unconscious. I was only found at the bottom of the stairs hours later. Due to being found late, my brain had started to swell from the bruising. My brain started to bleed (Subdural hematoma) also known as a stroke. I had a subarachnoid hematoma too. I had suffered a severe traumatic brain injury.
The paramedics took me to St Mary’s hospital, as they are very good with head injuries. I was in a coma for 5 weeks, and had many operations on my head. When I came to, I could still remember people’s faces. I had undergone a craniotomy where a part of my skull had been removed. The subdural hematoma was on the right side, so I had lost feeling/movement down my left side.
I was kept in hospital in intensive care, connected to tubes, cables and all sorts. I had a “bone flap” where a portion of my skull had been removed, the skin was just stapled over to cover the brain. The cranioplasty surgery, where the neurosurgeons covered the hole with a titanium mesh plate, was done about 5 weeks after my initial operations. I was in hospital from September 2013 – March of 2014. I have never stopped rehabilitation as every day my brain injury likes to throw something new into the mix. I developed epilepsy due to the brain injury. I regained most of the movement on my left side, due to being “young and fit” at the time. Although I had also hit my right side buttock, which caused another hematoma. This caused my sciatic nerve to become compressed which caused the loss of sensation in my right leg.
At brain injury rehabilitation clinic I learnt to walk, eat, talk and some other stuff. Now 11 years later I am still coming to terms with everything. I suffer from Post Traumatic stress, Post Traumatic Amnesia, Depression, Anxiety, Panic attacks, my right optic nerve was damaged with the trauma and am losing the vision in that eye. Seizures have not stopped and if anything, have become more frequent. My life has changed in so many ways, but I am alive and every day is a gift. If it were not for the people I love, and their love for me I would not be around any longer. The patience and kindness they give me is what keeps me going. Giving up is something I must fight against every minute of every day. It is bringing me to tears just writing this, it is easy to suppress a lot of things, but they always come back, and I get reminded that against all odds I am alive. I do not want to tempt fate, since every day I am reminded by my brain in terribly scary ways that everything has changed.
This is my story, TBC.
Alastair’s life changed overnight on 24th January 2019, when aged 44 he fell down the stairs to London’s Oxford Circus tube station. The accident left him initially in a coma, from which he has recovered but now has a brain injury which have led him to adapt his daily living. He tells us about the accident, awaking from a coma, and the trials and tribulations he went through to return to a working full time and living a full life.
Igor was enjoying a successful career in banking when he suffered a catastrophic motorbike crash during a race on a famous racecourse on 24th January 2014 – exactly 10 years to the day before this interview was recorded. The accident left him with a left acute subdural haematoma and oedema, or bruising of the brain. His scull was cut (craniectomy) to relieve the pressure on his brain and to drain excess fluid. Now, 10 years on, Igor is still able to speak several languages, but he tells us how his cognitive abilities have been affected and how this has affected is everyday life.
Hi, I am Graeme Read; my journey began in 2012 after experiencing bad headaches and was diagnosed with having an AVM (tangle of blood vessels that irregularly connects arteries and veins). My injury developed after 3 failed embolisations and 1 craniotomy that had to be aborted due to my brain swelling. I have acquired epilepsy, aphasia, am partially sighted and developed a brain cyst, not to forget I have no bone flap! Thankfully, I still have my sense of humour, support Arsenal and like to help others. I have enjoyed this experience with the podcasts. Thank you for the opportunity.
Graeme was 44 when diagnosed, but his injuries resulted from a mugging in 2007. He was 56 at the time of the interview in 2024
Aneta was 37 when she had a stroke on the 7th January 2022, just 2 years before the interview. She tells us about her experience of having a stroke and her road to recovery.
She had emergency surgery involving a Right pterional craniotomy and clipping of MCA bifurcation aneurysm.