Martin Longmore of Headway Larne describes his experiences of living with a brain injury.
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00:00My brain injury happened at a car accident on the 8th of September 2001. It was the time
00:12of the twin towers, it happened 9-11, it happened on the 11th of September. My accident happened
00:17on the 8th, so the twin towers I knew about, I was lying in a coma, and they gave me 48
00:23hours to live, and I survived that, and then they moved me up to intensive care, and after
00:28I came round, I found myself paralysed for 3 or 4 months, and then I had to learn how
00:33to talk, and walk, and do everything myself, and after I came out of hospital, I got some
00:39rehabilitation from Antrim Hospital, but it took me a good 3, 4, 5 years to get back to
00:48walking, and talking, and doing stuff normally. Very bad memory, short term memory would be
01:00very bad, I had maybe a balance of coordination problems, my speech sometimes would, I have
01:07to remember to slow my speech down, because I would talk very, very fast, and just to
01:12get it out there before I forget it, or if I was having a conversation with 2 or 3 different
01:18people, and I had to think of something to say, I had to put in and say it, because if
01:24I don't, I'll forget it, so it's gone.
01:33If I have anything to do, like an appointment, or something to do, I'll have to set a reminder
01:38on my phone, my phone's my best friend, but I don't send one reminder, I send about 4,
01:443 or 4 or 5 reminders, because the night before, 2 hours before, an hour before, half an hour,
01:51because if I was to set it for half an hour, or 15 minutes before, 5 minutes later, I could
01:57forget about it, so I have to set it at 3 or 4, so it keeps jigging my memory to remember
02:03it, so when it comes, okay, yes, right, I have to go, or if I had, now I get up at half
02:097 every morning, on a school day, to take the grandkids to school, and if I had something
02:15to do early that next morning, that was important, I'd write myself a post-it note, or a note,
02:21and stick it to the dashboard, or the steering wheel, so it reminded myself to do it, otherwise
02:27I'd be halfway through my day and go, oh, I forgot!
02:34Even, like, the Friday group here, right, I've seen me going, oh, and being half an hour late,
02:42because I forgot all about it.
02:49The sessions, yeah, sometimes, I think it's all about confidence, and having faith in
02:56yourself as well, because sometimes I find it very hard to make a decision, if there's
03:05someone else there, I'd rather they made the decision instead of me, because sometimes,
03:10it's quite a confidence thing, you don't want to make the wrong decision, or do the wrong thing,
03:14you know what I mean?
03:20I like the Friday group because it gives us, there's the social aspect, but it also gives
03:24us interactive and teamwork, and then it teaches us different things, and there's different
03:30wee activities that we do, like the time they do the wee steak cooking course, how to cook
03:37for yourself, and they give us a slow cooker, and sort of how to make wee meals and stuff
03:42for ourselves. Every week, Diane will introduce us to something that will give us brain activity,
03:49like a search word or a crossword, and then we'll do a game, or we'll maybe play boccia
03:56or something, so we're all using our different skills, and it's helping us, but the memory
04:03one's very good, because my memory would be very, very bad, but through Headway, I've
04:12learned how to cope with it, and different mechanisms to help me through it.
04:20It's got my photograph on it, and it tells people that I've got a brain injury, and then
04:25maybe my speech, something wrong with my speech, or my balance, or, I mean, it could be loss.
04:33It lets them know that I maybe need some help, you know what I mean, to do a certain aspect.
04:39The airport's a great one, because at the airport, you go to the special assistance
04:44and they identify yourself, and they'll take you, and they'll look after you.
04:49Sometimes in the shop, if you've produced your card, they do, and they give you a bit
04:55of assistance and help you out.
05:02Yes, I'm keen on volunteering, because I think I've got a lot to offer Headway, and a lot
05:08to offer the people in Headway, because me having a brain injury and being through all
05:12the process, I'll be able to help out, I'll be able to see, maybe anticipate a problem
05:21before it happens, or I can see somebody struggling, I know why they're struggling, I know how
05:25they're struggling, so I can help them out and be there for them, and probably be easier
05:29me making it easier for them, you know what I mean, and they feel better about me doing
05:36it, and I know exactly what I'm doing, you know what I mean.
05:42Headway.com