Absolutely invaluable! My local Headway Somerset team have been and continue to be a huge part of my life, I won't say recovery because they understand that I won't necessarily 'get better' but they are massively supportive. Thank you to all at Headway Somerset, I am very grateful for all your help! x
being a part of theses groups has helped me understand the new me , not feel so alone and get good advice .. being able to speak to people who actually understand ..
the headway’s head office I did speak to I think a long time ago ,I am unsure what we talked about but I presume that’s how I joined this group .. (wow the joys of memory issues) Sue 😊
I wouldn't still be here if it wasn't for Headway. After my accident (26 years ago yesterday) i went through 6 nightmare years not knowing that i had damaged my brain. Then a counsellor gave me a Headway booklet and everything that i'd been saying for 6 years was right there! If only i'd been diagnosed initially maybe i wouldn't have lost my marriage, friends, job, new house.. Everyone who bangs their head, has a stroke, bleed etc needs to be introduced to Headway, their booklets, local groups & branches. I found the booklets invaluable. I'm a Member of Headway and attended Swindon & Bath Headway and now attend Headway South Powys Neuro Cafe. It's great to chat with fellow Survivors. Keep doing what you do so well Headway and maybe others will get diagnosed sooner & won't have to go through what i did.
Anyone who has a head injury or a stroke, or brain bleed should be signposted to the Headway platform. It's been a real benefit to me. The variety of people and the variety of experiences is huge, and is wonderful to have access to.
What was most debilitating was the fatigue. Head injuries are invisible and therefore it is easy for family members to think it is not there. . Fatigue is easy to see as malingering. . . If I hadn't come across headway, I would not have coped very well.
Doctors should know about your work, and signpost cases to you.
I had a fall, a fall I still cannot remember. I didn't know what was wrong with me at first except that people reacted differently to me. It took a long time to realize the many issues I had on my plate to deal with. And I am still working on them now. For a long time I was completely lost. Sorry to say that the hospital in the UK was not that helpful at first and I got passed around a lot by various doctors as if I had an unexplainable condition that no one knew anything about. I spent 3 years in the purest form of my own personal hell immediately following the accident and hate to think about it now. Then I went to a Headway meeting and realized that I was not alone and that everything I was dealing with was pretty standard fair for everyone at the meeting. It was a relief. It didn't make me better orcure me, I've given up on the existence of a cure but it made me feel less isolated and less obscure.
Communication is important, we all need to communicate with one another to feel more normal. You don't in my opinion reconnect completely with society and get back to normal. You don't get completely better. So you need to speak with others because this thing isn't going to go away. You've got it for life now so Headway keeps you in touch with other people in similar situations and I for one need that.
I think the word everything is not understating it at all.
If it hadnt been for Headway when I had my relapse and my wife called the helpline I would not have been here today. No time for ambulance get him to hospital now. Luckily when reached A&E they blue lighted me forty miles to the nearest specialist neuro hospital and defined I had contracted an infection and would need to deal with that before anything could be done.
So a massive thank you to the helpline.
I now think we need to raise the profile more and fund raise so it can be a 24/7 service. We all live on a knife edge and accidents and brain injuries, strokes, bleeds etc can happen at any time, day or night.
Taking rapid action is crucial, so here I must give a massive thank you to everyone at Headway. You are all brilliant people. ❤️
For me it would just be making your website easier to use. Using a screen is SO difficult but I came here because I want the community and don't know where else to turn. Having to scroll through adverts etc makes it that much harder unfortunately. Unfortunately this forum is almost inaccessible to me.
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