My passion, for better or worse, is brain injury rehabilitation. I have seen what a lack of optimal multi disciplinary rehabilitation can do to a victim. It can and does destroy the fabric of family life. It splits families and marginalises victims. It is still very much the invisible injury, the silent epidemic.

Look at what Professor Mike Barnes, ex-President of the World Federation for Neurorehabilitation says, in his letter about the value of early rehab and the Rehab4Life scheme. Click here to read his letter. It is crucial his message is understood. Not only understood, but acted upon. The Rehab4Life scheme goes some way to doing this, and I am proud of it. But, I wish things were better all around.

Our state care system, here in the UK is wonderful, generally. It has it's problems. Goodness only knows it tries it's best to be all things to all men. The Doctors and nurses who work within it are second to none in my opinion and do us all proud. Oh, there are glitches and every organisation has it's bad bits and things go wrong occasionally. That's life. Life doesn't come with any guarantees. Our National Health Service has only so much money to go around and inevitably there are areas it could be much better at. Brain Injury rehabilitation is one of those areas. The Rehab4Life scheme is also not all things to all men. It fills an important gap and, in appropriate cases, guarantees the much needed early multi disciplinary rehabilitation Professor Barnes so strongly advocates for.

Whatever applies over here in the UK applies equally in the USA, but on a much larger scale. When you have a minute, listen to the young lady speaking about traumatic brain injury facts and figures in the USA - on YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMBdWl5Dk_U 

My brother David, an established business consultant, based in North Aurora, Chicago, and myself, have set up Rehab4Life Inc, registered out of Delaware. It has been created very much on a suck it and see basis. It is designed around our UK model (see www.rehab4life.co.uk) with a view to hopefully raising awareness of brain injury rehabilitation issues in the USA and finding support for our initiative. It is in it's embryonic form. It has no funders or insurers and no support whatsoever from American lawyers, yet! We will be looking to establish contact with major influences some time soon. Maybe the publication of this blog article will elicit a response from interested prospective Stateside brain injury professionals, who may wish to, at least, explore and debate the Rehab4Life model to see if it can make any difference to brain injury outcome amongst compensatable victims in the USA.

There is nothing more stimulating than debate. I would welcome the opportunity to debate the value of the Rehab4Life rehab model with Stateside brain injury professionals. I would like to know if it is thought that our initiative is dead in the water e.g. because it purports to potentially be able to fix something that doesn't actually need fixing. I would be delighted, and extremely impressed, to know there is no problem facilitating early neurorehabilitation in America, for compensatable victims. My initial enquiries, however, tell me otherwise. One American clinician told me it is a great idea and would be very relevant in America. An Attorney (a commercial lawyer I met recently whilst skiing in France), speaking of his personal injury colleagues, doubted there would be much interest amongst them, i.e. in facilitating early neurorehabilitation, for the benefit of clients. He told me this was because early optimal neurorehabilitation would mean a much better outcome for the client. In turn this would mean a lesser jury award than would otherwise be the case which, also in turn, would affect the amount of the Attorney's contingency fee. I think he was being very cynical and this did not represent the view of responsible and committed brain injury Attorneys.

The cry, amongst American brain injury lawyers, will undoubtedly be "What does he know about our system - who does he think he is?". Well, they will be correct. I know very little about the American system save that I was a member of the old ATLA and have been Stateside many times to Conferences and seminars to listen to the glitterati of Americas legal profession, Howard Nations and Bruce Stern and many others, talk on the subject of personal injury lawsuits, advocacy, trial strategies and tactics, brain injury issues etc etc etc. I do know, however, and this brings me back to my opening point, that brain injury is still an invisible injury, the silent epidemic, wherever you are and I am passionate about making a difference to the lives of those who can be helped. Rehabilitation is accepted at world health and political levels as being a fundamental human right. It is an absolute truth. No apologies, no compromises, no excuses. If the Rehab4Life model of helping people is irrelevant, can somebody over there tell me, so that my brother and myself can get on with other things. Any comments or suggestions by way of stimulating this potential debate, or by way of developing the model, please email me on andrew.lindsay@rehab4life.co.uk.

Last week was a really good and busy week. Everything is going as well as we expected, in fact better at times. This week we’ve been invited to become panel members of Manchester-based national charity, BASIC – Brain and Spinal Injury Centre. They do fantastic work with victims of acquired brain injury. They run entirely on the basis of charitable donations and are a centre of excellence. They offer rehabilitation at all levels. Look at their web site - www.basiccharity.org.uk

BASIC is a specialist resource for people and their families in crisis followinga traumatic brain injury or neurological diagnosis. This includes people recovering from severe head injury, brain haemorrhage, brain tumour and other brain-related conditions such as stroke and brain cancer. It is affiliated to the Greater Manchester Clinical Neuroscience Centre, and works in close collaboration with the staff there to meet needs of patients within the community. I will be writing more about them on this site some time soon so watch this space.

As specialised neuro-solicitors we will offer BASIC a partnership at all levels, from to offering our support and helping those people who get go to BASIC for information and advice.

I also went to see Jo Maudsley, a young Mum who has two brain injured sons. She is also the founder of The Legacy- Rainbow House, based in West Lancashire, another centre of excellence designed to provide therapy and stimulation for brain injured young children. The charity specialises in providing services for children with neurological problems and conditions such as cerebral palsy, genetic and metabolic conditions, and acquired brain injuries. Some of their children have undiagnosed neurological problems. Jo is an absolute inspiration and I will be writing about The Legacy and their work shortly, too. In the meantime take a look at www.thelegacy-rainbowhouse.com

I’ve been interviewed by the Manchester Evening News and by Imagine FM, the press have been great, they have really responded to what Rehab4Life aims to do for people with TBI.

On Saturday I went to Aintree Racecourse, to a Headway Brain Injury Awareness Event, to mark the opening of the Liverpool and North West branch of Headway. I talked to a lot of people who have been affected by brain injury and their carers and case managers. The Rehab4Life scheme received unanimous support.

We’ve also taken the decision to open an office in Manchester because it seems a sensible move to be close to the city, although we are still based in Preston.

This week has been really difficult for family life because I’ve been so busy I have hardly seen them. It’s head down and work and thinking of how and when we are going to launch our Neurolaw Newsletter..It’s going to be a comprehensive newsletter sent to every personal injury lawyer in England and Wales, containing clinical and legal developments about brain injuries from a global to local level. We are looking to have the first one out within a month and I am very pleased to be working in conjunction with a QC, barristers, an educational consultant, case managers, a vocational rehabilitation expert as well as other solicitors.

I’ve been logging onto the Brain blogger website – www.brainblogger.com - which has been sharing thoughts on the peripheral brain. We all use one at times - you know when you have too much going on in your head so you have to make a list - doctors do, especially trainees and so do lawyers to try and get a grip on the sheer volume of information they have to handle but then any busy person like a mum need something external to remind them because there’s so much to remember and that scrappy list is our peripheral brain. Mine happens to be in my phone, and the computer. I couldn’t manage my working life without them and the Sat Nav now, just anything to make life a bit easier when you are busy. I seem to spend more and more of my life online, I check the phone at breakfast then get into work and switch on the computer whereas once I’d pick up a file and work my way through it. Technology helps me keep more things on the go and that suits me at work but not at home, I can’t keep up with the DIY, that’s multi-tasking too far.

I did more than enough work last week, so on Sunday morning I was in the garden (beautiful day up here in the North) and then watched England rugby side romp to victory (in the first half!!) against the French. Then I promptly fell asleep, before turning my thoughts to the Rehab4Life week ahead.

Here goes!

I have said it before and I will say it again. I can't tell you how nervous you get when you launch something you truly believe in, hoping all the time others will see it the same as you. I have received loads of well wishes recently. People who have sufferred brain injury, their loved ones, social workers, a Consultant within the NHS, have all expressed their support. I am delighted. I will be more delighted when more and more people get the benefit of it, because that is the bottom line as far as I am concerned. 

We have had lots of enquiries from solicitors who would like to "plug" their clients into the scheme. This is very encouraging.

I notice that when I google Rehab4Life now it brings up pages and pages of entries. Most surprisingly we have found our way onto the web site of Acidents Direct, a Claims Management company. Click on this link to have a look. Members of the public may not appreciate the irony of this - but my lawyer colleagues out there will!! Thanks Acidents Direct.

 We are also in my favorite little paper - the Garstang Courier. Take a look to see what they are saying by clicking here. The funny thing is that some people call me and ask for Tracy's Dad. They can't remember my name but they remeber hers. It must be her smile!!

 

 

Today I received a telephone call from a lovely lady, Christine Brown, of Clifton, Preston, Lancashire, whose son Stuart, now aged 33, sustained a severe brain injury when he was 8 years old and wasn't given much of a chance of living, never mind making any sort of meaningful recovery.

Christine called to tell me that she saw the recent local publicity and thought our scheme is a wonderful innovation, wished us well and every success, and told me she wished it had been available 25 years ago and that she just had to call me to let me know.  

She told me she believed that if Stuart had received early multi disciplinary rehabilitation all those years ago he would have avoided complications, his function would have improved much faster, and it may have offered a better chance of some sort of return to productivity or even work.

In the event it took years to conclude his case, with no rehabilitation whatsoever, except for the loving and devoted care from his Mum and Dad. The compensation was all too late to be of use to him as far as his optimal improvement and quality of life was concerned. 

Stuart now lives in a bungalow with his Mum and Dad, which was purchased out of the proceeds of his compensation claim. He is happy but Christine is left wondering how much better he could have been if the benefits of the Rehab4Life scheme had been available in those days. His Mum and Dad know just how difficult it is to care for someone who has suffered a brain injury. They have done a marvellous job despite the distinct lack of help over many years since his injury. It altered their lives dramatically but they coped and dealt with it with considerable fortitude and good spirits.

I told her about the way the scheme worked and she confirmed that getting early multi disciplinary rehabilitation, within weeks of the injury, as well as money to help with lost earnings, is by far and away the single most important aspect of any claim and the sooner it is done the better, irrespective of cost considerations. She pointed out that the amount of damages is secondary to rebuilding the victim’s life. She went as far as to say that she would have paid back every penny of the compensation to have been able to give him the best chance of a meaningful recovery in those early days. She loved the idea of being able to access money to pay for valuable early multi disciplinary rehabilitation and money to cover loss of earnings, on a no risk basis in the event the compensation claim was unsuccesful.  Christine also stressed just how crucially important it is to use the right solicitor, who understands the issues and what is needed and when it is needed and who is prepared to go to the ends of the earth to make a difference to the lives of vulnerable brain injury victims.

Thank you, Christine. Thank you very much for your comments and well wishes. It means a lot to us to know we are making a difference.

If anyone else reading this wants to comment, good or bad, please email me on andrew.lindsay@rehab4life.co.uk

During the last week David and I have been living the launch of Rehab4Life, 24/7. It’s incredibly exciting to finally see a dream I’ve had for three years become real; one that will help so many people and it’s down to being Tracy’s parent, she’s the inspiration. On Tuesday I was asked to go on Radio Lancashire’s Tony Livesey Experience and I was a bit nervous because I wanted to get it right without too many ums and ahhs on air and I was pleased it went a lot better than I expected.

Just after I got home, the show’s producer, Alison Butterworth, called to tell me about the tragic death of David Cameron’s six-year-old son, Ivan and asked if I’d come back on the show, with my son, Chris, to talk about our experience.

You can listen to both interviews by clicking on the links here on the blog page, below.

For parents with children like Tracy and Ivan, their death or the likelihood of it, is their second worst nightmare. The first has already happened; you have been told your child is profoundly disabled. From then on their death is constant spectre in your life. In the meantime, you have to find a way to live with that. Life doesn’t get much more serious for parents.But you do cope because you have to and you learn to live a happy life. We have as a family despite the tremendous worries and stress and think David Cameron did the same. We have been lucky so far, Tracy is 27 but we still live with the fear of her early death.

Children with very special needs bring a different perspective to life, turning what matters into sharp focus. Those everyday minor irritations do not bother me at all and Chris has embraced this from childhood. He’s 29 now and works as a pilot. He’s very even-tempered with an acute sense of perspective having lived with and loved Tracy. He’s a tremendous person for that experience and a hero of mine.

I smiled at Alison, Tony Livesey’s producer, as she seemed to take a bit of shine to him, so much so, that when I rang back the day after the show and she asked my name, there was blankness until I said: “You remember, Chris’ dad?” Instant recognition then.

We’ve had great press in the Blackpool Gazette, Lancashire Evening Post and a Sunday Express journalist has interviewed me, so we may get national coverage.

However, one of my favourite papers is my local, Garstang Courier and I think we are going in there next week and that’s right on my doorstep so when I go in the local pub there’ll be people who’ll find out what I’m doing because I haven’t talked about it much before now in case I couldn’t get it off the ground.Now we’ve launched I’m determined for Rehab4Life to succeed because it’s so important that victims of traumatic brain injury get the support they need as soon as possible, so I’ll never give up now. Having Tracy and bringing her up has made me a much more determined person who wants to make a difference to lives.Tracy has listened to me and Chris on the radio and seen her picture in paper, so she feels tremendously important and of course she should because she’s our inspiration.

This weekend I switched off. We went to a good friend’s, son’s 21st birthday to let our hair down. After checking the weather forecast to go out on the bike I decided against it. I can’t wait for those bright, crisp mornings when the sky is clear blue and I get the gear on and head for a bacon butty at Kirby Lonsdale.