Light at the end of the tunnel

Acceptance is key to moving on , yes you’ve been through hell and I bet people saying oooh you’re doing so well drives you mental .. it does me , but try saying to your self “ hey look what you’ve been through and your still here , maybe a different version of you but you’re smashing every single day “ some people have a little cold and there world is over .. we are lucky in a sense as we get to realise our own mortality and not many people get that chance x

I run a recruitment agency , the best trick I’ve learnt is to listen to my body and to accept that I’m different from how I used to be, brain fog and fatigue don’t hit me as bad as they used to , but when they do I rest I know that my brain is trying to catch up if that makes sense .. I have learnt to become very selfish in that way where I just say no to everything and put my self first , I shut the door and rest or meditate

Yes sadly I think this is the most difficult thing to explain , I got divorced after my sah ..my marriage broke down quite quickly but now I realise how strong I actually am x

As I’m reading this I have a huge smile on my face ... my thoughts exactly x

Hi, I'm currently relearning to walk independently, my balance I think is my main problem. My walking is there as I can walk linked armed with someone just not on my own yet.. It's bn 14 months and Im still waiting on it to correct. Did it take you and long time to relearn this?

I was hit by a car while crossing the road walking home from a night out. I was with my husband and a friend. I suffered fractured skull,hence BI, fractured fibula & tibia in my right leg, fractured 3 vertebrae, cheekbone, de-gloving, punctured lung & M.R.S.A. In a coma 4-5 weeks, Hospital 8 months, 6 of this the NRU Walton Liverpool. They helped me to walk, talk & live again. Used a stick for a while. Back to work 2 weeks after discharged, just for 4 hours a week for first couple of weeks then increased by to 8 over 2 days. The OT from the NRU went to my work to advise them how to help me. I had regular monitoring & I gradually built it up my working days. However my Dad had to drive me & that frustrated me so l took driving lessons again, got myself a car on DLA. Ended up working 4 full days. Fast forward 8 years l got made redundant due to major company changes, this co-insided with my DLA being reduced so l had to return the car. I decided to go back to college to learn floristry, l'd put a lot of weight on so joined Weight Watchers got to goal then trained and became a leader. Dad became poorly & passed away, as l had cared for him l decided to become a support worker & l worked with adults with learning difficulties. After doing this for a while and it being so badly paid as l was only relief worker l went back to office temping, most recently l have gone back to the type of work l did years ago but the manager was really patronising so handed my notice in so l think l'm gonna chill for a few weeks, till l decide what my next move is going to be. That's me so far, oh in 2009 l had my book 'It Was Not My Time' published, when l was in the NRU l was advised by Headway to keep a diary about my progress and l turned it into a Novel. There you go an abreviated version of the last 15 years since accident of which it was the anniversary on the 6th August this year

This all happened when l was still in hospital , in the first few weeks. Once l awoke from the coma, to begin with l had no idea what had happened to me. I didn’t know why l was in hospital & as l could not walk l used to spin round in my bed apparently. When l came round from my coma my first words were to tell my Dad to shut the f*ck up. He must have been taking the mick or something, my husband has told me everyone was so pleased that l’d spoken. I didn’t learn to walk till l was moved to the NRU so that was probably about 4 or 5 months into my hospital stay. I lost 5 stone as l could not feed myself due to the degloving to my right arm. I have very little memory of all this, l know it happened to me but l don’t really know that person. I have a video which my friends took of me in hospital so l can see what l was like, a very fragile version of me. I couldn’t be discharged until l had reached a weight healthy enough & l was able to do stuff like for myself. Like wash & dress myself, in the NRU l was taught to cook a meal & had a lots of different therapies to help me recover. I had physio twice a day at 1 point, it was real hard work. Once l was starting to recover l would be allowed home for the weekend, once the staff had assessed my home to make sure l would be safe. I had a commode to begin with as l could not walk upstairs to the bathroom. The first time l came home l did not know it was my home, l thought it was a really nice place. Just before my accident we had chosen a new kitchen. We had only moved into the house a year before and we had been doing the place up, stripping floors & we had re-done most of the house up. While I was in hospital my husband who is a builder fitted our kitchen. I would say my full recovery had taken around 18 months-2 years, going back to work, being in the real world l think has been key to my recovery. In the real world you’re not the only person stuff is happening to so you learn to deal with things outside of yourself. It’s so easy to become selected obsessed. But a whole world has still been happening while you’re been poorly. I used to be given dicerplinerysc at world because of my behaviour. I didn’t understand a lot of things to begin with and this helped me to re-interage