The Peter Bradley Story

Born in Derry in 1958, the fourth child of six to Alex and Esther Bradley, Peter was an energetic child with a keen intelligence. He attended Primary school in Strabane and Clongowes Secondary School in Co. Kildare, where he achieved an excellent Leaving Cert in 1975. From a very young age Peter demonstrated his love of words through his constant chat and love of English and debating. He had an extensive vocabulary, which often exceeded that of his contemporaries.

Peter went on to UCD to study law where he graduated with his BCL in 1978. His college years in Dublin were spent in the usual student fashion - socialising and having fun. He learned to play the clarinet, saxophone and bass guitar. He also enjoyed going to concerts and gigs and adding to his extensive music and comics collection In March 1980, a week before his final solicitors' exam, Peter was knocked off his motorbike by a car. He sustained a severe head injury. Too ill to go to London for an operation, he had pioneering neurosurgery in St Vincent's Hospital, Dublin, which was given a 20% success rate. He survived but suffered short-term and long-term memory problems.

Peter didn't recognise his parents and much of his college learning was gone. He remembered none of his relationship with his long-term girlfriend who continued to offer much support during the early days of his recovery. He was also blind in his left eye and deaf in his left ear. Following a short period of recovery in hospital, he went home to his family in Donegal to try to piece his life back together. The family remember the terror of being given no information regarding his condition or his prognosis. There was no guidebook to deal with the multitude of problems resulting from his accident.

Life continues....
Peter was never able to go back to college. There were no support services available. He attended Headway, then a new organisation, which proved invaluable to both Peter and his family. Headway offered information, counselling and training for Peter. He went to live in Metro Manila in the Philippines with Sister Teresa, a family friend, where he worked as a volunteer in a prison there. At this stage, he had made sufficient recovery from his motorbike accident to live independently and manage his own financial affairs with residual problems in short term memory and some changes in communication style - e.g. he had lost some of his sensitivity (tact). Fatigue, however, remained a factor.
All change again....

Devastatingly in February 1992, Peter was involved in a second accident in the Philippines as a passenger in a car. He was left in a coma. Following neurosurgery, facial reconstruction and with a smashed pelvis, he was flown home on a stretcher in a critical condition, minded only by his parents. He went for rehabilitation in the National Rehabilitation Hospital, Dublin. Following a successful programme there, he was discharged to his own home, Anvers, in Glenageary, Co. Dublin.

Despite two further emergency admissions to hospital with loss of consciousness, Peter lived independently in his home from 1993 until June 1998, when he fell and hit his head. This fall resulted in a slight stroke and further neurosurgery. The affects of this meant that Peter could no longer live completely independently as his memory was not good enough to ensure that he took his medication and ate regular meals. Six times Peter almost died. He contracted meningitis in November 2001 and was again at deaths door. Each time his family prepared for the worst. His stubbornness and will to live was extraordinary. Still a young man, and with a total lack of community services for people with Acquired Brain Injury, the only place for Peter to live, was a nursing home for older people, even though all he needed was supervision. He resided there until October 2001, until the first home providing assisted living for people with Acquired Brain Injury in Ireland was set up by the Peter Bradley Foundation now known as Acquired Brain Injury Ireland.

Within eight months, Peter progressed from being able to walk a maximum of 10 metres, sleeping most of the day in a chair and having little interest in his hobbies or surroundings, to going out on his own, shopping and visiting friends. He now cooks, cleans and manages his own affairs with minimum supervision and staff support.

Peter celebrates his 50th birthday in 2008, with Lucy Kennedy

Peter with John Moloney, Minister for Equality, Disability & Mental Health, at the launch of the Side by Side Day Service in March 2009