I am Bobby and I had a brain injury on 19th December 2019. I went to work as normal that day and I took a brain bleed resulting in me falling and hitting my head on a steel bench, causing a fracture on the back of my skull. I was transferred to Royal Victoria Hospital (RVH) where my situation was assessed as serious and my family were told to prepare for the worst.

I was in RVH for a few weeks before being transferred to RABU in Musgrave Park Hospital. I started rehabilitation and eventually was allowed to go home. Unfortunately very soon after discharge, COVID occurred and I was at home with restrictions in place. I was referred to The Cedar Foundation and I can honestly say this is when I started to ‘learn to live again’.

I learned about Cedar through Thompson House and a case officer from Inclusion Works South Eastern team contacted me. I was told about what Cedar could do for me and I was relieved that there was support. I jumped at the opportunity to join the Inclusion Works programme. Although my brain injury made me extremely fatigued I was able to work at my own pace on the programme. At the start I didn’t fully appreciate that I couldn’t do things I could do prior to my brain injury. My case officer explained that I could join the PEABI (Personal Effectiveness After Brain Injury) group in Cedar and this programme would help me to have a better understanding of my brain injury. I started Cedar approximately 18 months after my brain injury.

"At the start of my brain injury journey I wanted to return to work but my medical team advised that I would probably only regain 40-50% of my ability. Through discussions with my case officer I understood I had a ‘new life journey'."

I started to identify ‘new goals’ and one of these was to become more social and involved in new opportunities. With support from Cedar I joined a local Men’s Shed. I was an engineer all my life and I enjoyed making things in the Men’s shed group. In addition I joined the Cedar PEABI group and this weekly group really supported my understanding of my brain injury. I met a variety of people on a similar ‘new life journey' as myself and we quickly became friends. The PEABI group wasn’t just a learning experience, it became a social group and I looked forward to each week.

I enjoyed PEABI so much, when I finished on the IWSE programme, I signed up to become a Cedar Volunteer and I now volunteer each week with the PEABI programme. I enjoy helping new group members to relax and engage in the learning. Repeating PEABI each week also supports my short term memory loss as I am relearning each week. Each week is a new learning experience and I really look forward to it.

I want to continue to volunteer and help others with their brain injury who are at the start of their journey. I will always appreciate Cedar for helping me in my own journey and as a thank-you if I can help people understand that a brain injury isn’t the end of their life, it just means they have a new journey that can be just as fulfilling with the right help and support.

Cedar have been a vital support in my brain injury journey. I have received direction, and encouragement to help me understand my ‘new life journey’ and now I’m supporting others as a volunteer to do the same. If I can help one person to appreciate their new life journey, it’s a winner for me.

Bobby, Volunteer - Cedar Foundation

If you would like to find out more about Inclusion Works please visit the dedicated page or contact us at [email protected] to enquire about our diverse range of services for people living with disability, brain injury and autism.