My son

[Sausage]

My son had a cardiac arrest at 14. He has an acquired brain injury. We was told he would never walk, talk Or eat again. How wrong was they. He is now 21 walking, talking and eating. He has short term memory but we cope

[bikerlifestyle]

well that is fantastic news indeed

bet you are very proud he has proved them wrong

[Sausage in reply to bikerlifestyle]

I am very proud of my son. It is not easy for him. He will never live on his own but he will never give up.

[Hidden in reply to bikerlifestyle]

agree ;}

[Lubilu01]

So glad your son proved Docs wrong. My dad has been in hospital for 10 months and is still unable to walk or talk, he was eating but has recently had to revert to a peg as he has developed problems swallowing. We have been told they don't expect him to improve beyond this, but who knows, I've heard so many instances where this has been the prognosis but the person has beaten the odds.

[cat3]

With such a prognosis you've all obviously had your hopes seriously tested, but what a great result it has turned out to be. It's a really welcome story and will give hope to others, I'm sure.

Best wishes to you all. cat

[iforget]

Great to hear a story of triumph against the odds...

[Hidden]

What a lovely story I am very happy for you. you story goes to show what we already know - how little is truly known about brain injury and recovery from it. Lets hope that the new research being launched in America brings some improvement in this so that everybody can be proactively supported to lead as good a life as possible.

Well done to you all for working together and making it happen and thank you for sharing. x

[watso]

Wonderful and very well done to your son for overcoming so many hurdles and well done to you and your family for being so strong for him. Everyone with a brain injury is different in their recovery and no Neuros can totally predict the outcomes!

When our son had his accident(aged14) we were told he would be in a vegetatuve state if or when he came out of his coma and how wrong they were too!!!!

[Petehat]

I am not a n expert I am beginning to recover still walk with a stick can't move my arm but I have been taking coconut oil instead of sugar in coffee . I am certainly a lot brighter no depression I had massive stroke 2010 left me hemiplaegic and short term memory loss long term no problem writing also has helped my book is on amazon Kindle called Peters'Stroke of luck Part1 when I finish part 2 that may be useful its changed genre to a diary Ive never written anything before my stroke not even letters even though I was a teacher primary school I was P E. drama based Not literary ,practical It may help its really cheap because I want Yao help I wish you all the best maybe a diary might be the thing to help your son if you haven't got a kindle you can download software for free I now use an ipad as I can only use one hand with a stylus my lap top is redundant.

peter

[Sausage in reply to Petehat]

Thank you for your kind words. On your iPad is there an app that you use to help you with your memory?

[helen11]

hug

[Sausage]

Thank you everyone. I only found this website by chance. It is nice to read your story's. it is nice to know we are not the only ones out there with the same issues.

[Pazstan]

Great story. This happens time and time again - people making better than expected recoveries. It makes me question why the professionals have to be so negative - I'm not saying that they should tell you everything will get back to normal - but a bit of encouragement and positivity throughout recovery would be a welcome thing. There is no better way to kick a brain injury survivor when they are down than telling them they won't get better. It doesn't exactly motivate you to try! There is so much we don't know about the brain, so we should be more positive.

[Pumpkin86]

I have not suffered a brain injury myself, but a member of my family did. It's difficult - I think doctors are very aware that we family members cling to every shred of hope and are probably afraid of saying anything that would give false hope. At the same time (and obviously I can only speak from my experience), I think having supportive people like family members around with a positive attitude, along with the fact that my brother himself has a very strong and determined personality, are probably large factors that helped in allowing him to make a pretty amazing recovery. In fact nurses have in the past told us that whilst they are amazed at how much progress he has been able to make, they also felt sure that it was at least partly to do with us all coming together as a family.

I try to think of it as if we can try to be realistic, taking things one step at a time, but still be positive and encourage him to try and keep working towards goals to build a happier life for himself, just as I hope we would have done if he hadn't had the injury, then hopefully he will be able to find a new path in life that might be a bit different than the one he had planned but that doesn't mean he can't be happy.

This story like so any others I have heard confirms to me that although every head injury is different and affects each sufferer differently, if we around those people can try to remember that with our support, patience and a positive attitude, we can help, perhaps even more than we realise.

It's so good to hear about someone who has been able to make such great progress after an ABI, and I'm sure that having your support has helped your son to make the most of his determiniation. I hope that anyone who has to go through an experience like this has an understanding person to help them through it.

Sorry that was quite a long response but I do really find it very inspiring.

[Sausage in reply to Pumpkin86]

Thank you so much for your reply. You are right by saying family coming together. My son still has a long way. He had his cardiac arrest at 14 and he is now 21 and he is still improving slowly. He will never be able to live alone but he has a voice and he lets me know what's he wants in life. Again thank you for your kind words.

[headwayuk Partner Headway]

Hi Sausage

Thank you for sharing your positivity. The Headway website contains plenty of information and support to help with memory loss after brain injury, including booklets and factsheets.

You can visit headway.org.uk or call the helpline for more support.

Best wishes,

Headway