I've been made aware of this account by my sons. My son Richard uses this to post about his experiences as a brain injury survivor. He is 23 years old and suffered severe damage to his brain during a road traffic accident when he was 20. It was horrific. He was in hospital for a total of 6 months, despite us being told he would most likely remain in a minimally conscious state, he defied all the odds and made a remarkable recovery.
The reason I am writing this is because my son had a second TBI on the 11th of January. It took him a while after the initial accident to accept he could no longer participate in things he once loved. Eventually though he found some acceptance in his new limitations. He decided last year he wanted to do something to help others struggling with brain injury who are less fortunate than himself. He was training in order to cycle from lands end to john o'groats for charity. Whilst out with his brother and two friends Richard ended up being taken to hospital with severe head injuries. My other son who was in attendance at the time of the accident assures me they were not going fast, and Richard wasn't messing about. Yet still he had to be resuscitated, put in an induced coma for 24 hours and underwent surgery. The drugs were then turned off, yet a further 5 days in a deep coma followed. I held his hand and told him he needed to wake up because we can't loose him. He may be a 23 year old adult, but he will always be my beautiful baby boy. He has been severely injured and needs as much support as we can give him.
After 4 weeks he is now conscious, able to communicate, and walk a short distance with assistance. He is very muddled and confused with terrible short term memory. The most noticeable thing for him though is his vision problems, as well as his hand eye coordination and motor skills, which he is finding frustrating. I am aware he has been messaging some friends who have been unable to see him. This was his brothers idea and he has been helping him do so.
We don't know to what extent Richard will recover, but we have been hoping for miracles once again. We're told he won't improve the same amount he would if he hadn't had the previous injury. Its wrong that we are being told he has severe brain damage, yet we can still say he has had worse. It breaks my heart watching him struggle. We simply don't know what the future holds.

The reason I'm sharing my sons story is in a plea to not take your safety or health for granted. Also I pray for everyone going through something similar to have the strength to fight on.

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