When I was only 15 years old I was sent for a scan on my sinus that turned out to be a brain tumour. I’d had blurry vision, morning headaches and facial pain and when I was diagnosed, they told me it was low grade. Five years later, doctors told me the tumour was getting bigger and that it would have to come out. I wasn’t really taking it in. Like any 20 year old, I was more concerned about my friend’s 21st birthday party. I didn’t really pay any heed to the seriousness of my situation – that I was going to have brain surgery. I remember I went in laughing to the anaesthetic room. But I was oblivious about what was ahead of me. When I woke up after surgery my left side was paralysed and I thought it was the anaesthetic wearing off. It’s still surreal to think that I was actually paralysed. From wheelchair to walking I left hospital in a wheelchair and started intensive physiotherapy programmes. Every day I did about 4 or 5 hours of physio. I think I was in survival mode because I never wanted to believe I couldn’t walk. I struggled to understand what […]
I don’t think anyone would sit down and have a chat with me today and know I had a brain injury. My injury was always invisible. But to those who know me best, my struggles weren’t invisible. Back in 2008, more than 10 years ago, I became very ill out of the blue. I was just 19 years old and it started with a jerk in my leg. This was the first sign of a seizure which put me in Portlaoise Hospital on and off for weeks. I suffered multiple seizures and was transferred to Beaumont Hospital in Dublin. I was treated for many different neurological illnesses, but nothing worked. With every seizure, I was losing a part of myself and coming closer to death. I even received the last rites twice. Doctors were fast running out of options. As a last-ditch effort to save me, I was blindly treated for an auto immune triggered Encephalitis (brain swelling), all while in a medically induced coma. Eventually, with treatment I started to come back to life. But I was a shadow of the person I once was. I was seriously compromised. My vocabulary was non-existent, and the psychotic effects of the illness meant […]
We have a funny Christmas story to share with kiddies before Santa comes and it’s written by one of our talented brain injury survivors, Michael Hopper. A Prawn Cracker Christmas… It’s December in the North Pole and Santa is locked out of his toy room. His shed is frozen solid and there’s a tornado on the way. Santa has a big frown on his face, he’s sobbing, and he is knocking on a door. On the other side, 42 elves were cranking the machines in the toy room. “NO, NO, NO.” Santa is shouting “let me in, let me in”. The elves were laughing, “Ho,Ho,Ho” and “Ha,Ha,Ha”. They had locked Santa out and taken over his job. Next thing a delivery boy arrives with a Chinese take-away, “What’s the matter Santa? Why are you crying?” “The elves have locked me out of my toy room and they have taken over my job,” sobbed Santa. “I’m really sorry Santa,” said the delivery boy. He handed Santa a plate of sweet ‘n’ sour chicken balls, egg fried rice and prawn crackers. But Santa was so upset he turned the food upside down in the snow. The elves could smell the food […]
Roving presenter Malachy Murray (played by FM104’s Terry Fahy from Tullamore), is ready to release his charms on the people of Offaly in our upcoming Valentine’s Ball fundraiser. And Malachy’s most pressing decision between now and then – is which cravat to wear at this year’s spectacular black-tie event! Malachy is famous for those lovely awkward moments where his interviewees don’t quite know what to say. He is a well-loved character in the midlands. “Nothing speaks of love like a burly man in formal attire…” Malachy said: “My New Year’s resolution is to bring as many of the delightful people of Offaly to the doors of the Tullamore Court Hotel on 16th February. On the night, I promise to rekindle the dim flicker of romance right here in the midlands. To the men I say, nothing speaks of love like a burly man in formal attire with a healthy dash of Old Spice aftershave. To the ladies I bid you come join me for a glittering evening. I’ll sing, I’ll sparkle, I’ll look ravishing. You’ll love it!” Saturday, 16th February 2019 February 2019 marks the second year of our glamorous black-tie fundraising event. It is organised by our Acquired Brain Injury Ireland team […]
Here at Acquired Brain Injury Ireland we are experts at goal setting as we help hundreds of brain injury survivors relearn vital skills and rebuild their lives. Your purpose We’ve all set goals that are perfectly good but somewhere along the way we’ve lacked the motivation to achieve them… and the goals fall by the wayside. With our brain injury survivors, it’s important that goal setting is aligned to the person’s own sense of purpose so they are motivated in making progress with their personalised rehabilitation plan. And this applies to you too. We look at the whole person – who they are, what they are good at, what they like, what interests them? These are useful questions to ask. Aligning goals to your own sense of purpose and sense of soul is crucial to your success. Anything else is not authentic to you. Look at your goals everyday Write them down! Writing down goals in a plan is an important start to make them real. Even better, put your goals on the wall where you can see them every day. Our brain injury survivors look at their goals and reminders every day to keep them on track to achieving […]
