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.

I have today posted a news item but since it is so important I am reproducing it in this blog.

It is as follows:-

"The need to objectively measure head injury severity at the scene of a road accident or in Casualty cannot be overstated. Traumatic brain injury (TBI) remains a major health issue with millions of victims affected annually the world over. Yet there are no objective, blood based diagnostic tests for TBI, and no effective pharmacological treatments. The absence of medically validated brain injury diagnostic markers, as an indicator of brain tissue damage, with the ability to measure changes in the brain cells, and biochemistry and molecules after the injury has been identified as a major limitation in diagnostic and therapeutic development for brain injury. However, significant strides have now been made towards solving these problems. Proteomics is the large-scale study of proteins, particularly their structures and functions. Proteins are vital parts of living organisms, as they are the main components of the physiological metabolic pathways of cells. Major research advances in neurotrauma neuroproteomics have identified several markers that are under evaluation as TBI biomarkers. Although there are currently no biomarkers with proven relevance for diagnosis of brain injury, whether it is caused by TBI, stroke, or other acute brain injuries, research has uncovered several candidate markers that have shown some preclinical potential. Clinical validation with human serum samples using these biomarkers is in progress. The Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS), a symptoms-based neurological scale used to assess level of consciousness after a TBI, divides patients into broad categories of mild, moderate, and severe injury. While the GCS has proven its usefulness in the clinical management and prognosis of severe TBI patients, it cannot provide information about the pathophysiological mechanisms responsible for a patient’s neurological deficits. In addition, specific patient populations are difficult to assess with the GCS, particularly those who suffer from mild or moderate TBI, which account for 80 – 90% of all cases. The future of biomarkers to diagnose and guide therapeutic development and treatment of TBI is very promising. As studies continually expand so does knowledge of the internal workings of the brain under pathological conditions and, as more is learned about the proteins that make up the brain, the closer science is to finding a means to diagnose and treat TBI."

Source: IBIA Issue 02 2008

I will be producing some more research news items shortly so watch this space.