Personal Stories

I had a car accident at 36 which gave me a brain injury. I had a serious operation where part of my brain was removed. My children were only 15, 13, 12 and 9 at the time of my accident. I now have aphasia as well as a hemiparesis on my right side.

Before my accident I was working two jobs. I was working two different jobs as an aged care worker whilst studying to be a nurse. I was also raising my 4 kids, doing all the house work and keeping active.

After my accident I spent 6 weeks in intensive care followed by 6 weeks in a ward. I do not remember my time in hospital or the three weeks before my accident. The first memory I have following my accident is at Hampstead Rehabilitation Hospital. I was lucky to receive rehab at Hampstead for two years. This is much longer than the average stay length. The staff were brilliant and advocated for me to stay as I was responding so well to therapy.

Since my accident my life has changed dramatically. I am still working but in a different field. I spend two mornings a week at Orana doing admin jobs. I do a little but of house cleaning but have passed most of this work over to my husband. I am a clean fanatic so often find myself getting frustrated at him for not being as attentive and thorough as I would like. Luckily, he is a good sport. The biggest change in my life post brain injury is not being able to read. I was an avid reader and a serious bookworm. I would spend 1-2 days straight reading. Reading was my escape from Mum life. Now I spend my time on the iPad playing games such as scrabble or navigating smart TVs watching Netflix and recording my favourite shows. I am also now a full-time grandmother. I have several grandchildren whom I adore and help to look after. Family has and always will be my number one passion.

When I reflect on my journey I realise that one of the most valuable intervention/resource I had was Talkback. The hardest skill for me was communicating in groups of 2-3 people. Talkback helped improve my ability to socialise with others and give me the confidence to do so. Initially I did not want to engage in talkback groups. I became very anxious and upset at the thought of going. I am so glad that I persevered because I love it now! My advice to others is to get involved in talkback groups as early as possible. I would like speech therapists to include talkback groups as part of the initial stages of therapy. Coming back to talkback groups after returning home is very overwhelming and hard but worth it.