John

I once worked 40 hours a week as a delivery truck driver, plus some weekends and holidays. I exercised regularly and often combined work and home life. I was perfectly healthy, invigorated by work and my desire for my family. I believed in the cardinal rule – ‘it can’t happen to me’. So, it was a great surprise and shock when as a pedestrian I was run over by a car.

This is my story...

On April 25^th 1999 at approximately 9.30pm I was perfectly fine and literally one minute later I was virtually dead. I suffered 17 injuries including bleeding in the brain. My friends witnessed the accident and called an ambulance and got me to Liverpool Hospital. I was on life support in intensive care for a number of weeks and things did not look good for my ultimate survival. In fact, I found out later that I was not expected to survive. I eventually woke up but was unable to walk, talk, feed myself or function in a number of ways.

I was transferred to the Brain Injury Rehabilitation Unit at Liverpool Hospital where I underwent rehabilitation. This continued in the hospital for months. I have gradually improved over the years but 5 years later I am still considered disabled. Some of my current disabilities are memory problems, tiredness, concentration and inability to carry out many tasks, as well as some physical problems such as partial paralysis of my left side and physical balance problems.

If there was ever a single principle that could rebuild our lives it is to be appreciated for who we are and the difficulties we are now facing. Along with this goes the opportunity for us to live a fuller and happier life. I look forward to going to Camden respite house where I get the chance to socialise with others, go on outings, have the opportunity to talk with the staff about my difficulties and get accepted as a person. It also gives my wife and family a chance to do their own thing.

So please, take a few minutes to think about our application to move our service to a new area. Please don’t hold negative thoughts towards us and give us the freedom and happiness to get on with our changed lives and for that you will all receive our gratitude in life.

Written by John, September 2003.

 John's Wife

I have heard of respite services available to help families, but I never thought that we would ever have to use one. 

I don’t worry about John when he is staying in Respite. The staff are there 24 hours a day, are trained, friendly and treat everyone like ‘normal’ human beings. They have outings, socialise with others, its like home away from home.

Living with someone who has suffered a Brain Injury can be stressful at times, from our noisy children to John not being able to do the things that he was once able to do - it can cause some bumpy rides. Respite care provides a great service and gives our family a break from this stress and it provides a chance for our family to survive.

Written by John's wife, September 2003.