Headway is the charity for brain injuries and does amazing work for injured people. It began on the 23rd October 1979 by a group of carers and professionals led by Sir Neville Butterworth and Barry and Dinah Minton.
The first house was opened in Gloucester in 1983. It was a day centre. It helped with long-term rehabilitation, respite care and hospital liaison. That group of people worked tirelessly to fundraise enough money to establish this centre. It became so successful that more money was raised, based on this success. They were able therefore to open Headway Houses in Basingstoke, Colchester, Reading and Bristol. Later more were developed around the country. In 1985 Headway opened a house in Nottingham.
The Hillsborough disaster in Sheffield made people realise that there was not enough expertise in brain injuries but there was Headway standing like a shining light in Nottingham offering its support. Its work is to improve life after brain injury by providing vital support and information services.
We might think that people do not suffer very much from brain injuries. We might say that we have never met anybody who has had a brain injury. I know that I have never met anyone who suffers from such a thing. However, I do know somebody who used to volunteer at her local Headway and told me all about her work. It was then that I realised that it was important to write about this as people are unaware of how serious this is.
So let us start with some statistics, very important ones.
Every 3 minutes someone in the UK is admitted to hospital with a head injury. 1 million people in the UK are living with the effects of a long-term brain injury. 10,000 to 20,000 severe traumatic brain injuries occur every year in the UK.
Men are 1.6 times more likely than women to be admitted to hospital with a head injury. I suspect that is because more men ride motorbikes.
The highest rate of brain injury occurs between the ages of 15-24 and those over 75.
The causes of brain injury:-
50% are caused by road traffic accidents which include pedestrians hit by vehicles.
21% are caused by physical assaults which includes those in public places like gunshot wounds or the more secretive types which are domestic violence, child abuse.
10% are caused by sports, particularly football, rugby, boxing, skiing and extreme sports.
7% caused by other incidents.
The consequence of a brain injury can have a devastating , lifelong effect, not only on the injured person but also on their families and friends.
My friend told me of one of her clients who would come regularly to the Headway Centre so she got to know him very well and to understand his mood changes. If he came dressed in highly coloured clothes, they knew his brain was out of control. Sure enough , during the day he would have screaming fits and would not know where he was or who he was. Then by the end of the day his brain came back into some kind of control. He was never going to get better but having the support of Headway certainly helped him. They never judged but only helped.
We can then look at the effects on families of the injury victims. An extremely famous example is Michael Schumacher, the racing car champion who had a severe accident causing brain trauma while skiing, the difference being that he is very wealthy and so no expense was spared on his nursing and care.
For us, ordinary people with not much money it is a very different ball game. Close family members do suffer. For many years there are huge amounts of depression and anxiety. The families over time lose the capacity to cope as they watch their mother or brother suffer knowing that there is no cure. Very often the brain injury victims have emotional and behavioural problems and these are so difficult to deal with on a day to day basis.
This is why Headway is such an essential charity. They offer what the NHS cannot, with their lack of funding and training.
Remember, always, that we have to be careful in our lives. A little risk is always a great thing but brain injuries are so common and so dangerous. Take care with yourselves.
