We’ve been working towards the launch of Rehab4Life for more than three years. It’s felt like a long slog from that lightbulb moment in Chicago when I knew I had to get money to help people to fast track rehab. There were times I felt like throwing in the towel and it’s been very difficult to imagine launching such a unique scheme, especially in the present climate but all along I have had a gut feeling it was exactly right.After all the hard graft, we are pleased that insurers and stakeholders see the importance of channelling money to victims of traumatic brain injury before a final compensation deal, to ensure their chances of recovery are maximised.

In the middle of February I chaired the first meeting of the North West Acquired Brain Injury Forum. It’s nationally headed by the renowned global brain injury expert, Professor Mike Barnes, who I’m pleased to say is backing Rehab4Life.We are aiming to get together a lot of like-minded professionals, including solicitors, brain injury clinicians, case managers and social workers from Manchester, Cheshire, Liverpool, Lancashire and Cumbria.This team is going to look at brain injury services and assess how provision can be improved in both the public and private sectors.The forum is not only for those who have suffered traumatic brain injury but those who have an acquired brain injury, for example, a stroke, haemorrhage or meningitis. Teaming up like this is an exciting, positive development for all patients with brain injuries and that’s our main concern.

It feels fantastic to launch Rehab4Life and we’re planning a party in the near future for everyone who has been involved. Dave doesn’t know this yet but I’m going to rope him and his band in to do the entertainment, he’s really good and he’ll enjoy being on the stage.Tracy and Peter will be there because without them we wouldn’t have set up Rehab4Life or even be operating the kind of practice we run, I can’t imagine what route our lives would have gone if they hadn’t been born.When you have a catastrophically brain damaged baby your life is altered forever. There are very black times when you can’t imagine feeling as you used to.We are in a very different place now. Tracy is 27 and Peter is 20 and we have been amazed at how their lives have transformed and, with them, ours.

Tracy is living with her partner, Andy, who also has quadriplegic cerebral palsy. She’s been shopping this week, with her carers, because it’s Andy’s 30th birthday soon. They met when they went to college in Lancaster, when Tracy was 16, and have been together ever since.

At work I’m representing a couple with the aim of getting further interim payments for their eight-year-old son who was massively brain damaged at birth. He was premature and went into distress during premature labour. Unfortunately, there was a significant and unacceptable delay in delivery, which caused the problems. All his limbs are affected and there is a degree of blindness along with hearing problems. His parents sought us out because of our professional expertise and personal experience bringing up children with brain damage. They appreciate our insider knowledge and the fact that we understand what they are going through because we’ve been there ourselves.

Outside work life is very busy. We’ve got builders at Tracys house because the garage is being torn down and an extension built for Andy to move into. It’s going to be state-of-the-art accommodation with a hoist attached to a tracking system in the ceiling so Andy can be transferred from bed to chair easily. Dave’s been doing DIY on a lesser scale at Peter’s home. He’s been drafted in to put up shelves etc and they have both been diverted by watching Simpsons DVDs. I think Dave’s having a bit of break; he’s been having sleepless nights with his eight-month-old son, James. I remember what that was like.

I’ve been missing going out on my Suzuki Bandit 1200 because the weather’s been treacherous. I can’t wait for spring, and a good run out.The Suzuki’s a big, solid touring bike that’s very comfortable to ride and it’s taken me all over the continent. I have a plan - I’d really love to get a group of solicitors who also happen to be bikers interested in Rehab4Life’s scheme, and get them together to ride the Big Sur down the west coast of California and ultimately have a conference at the end of it with biking American lawyers to swap ideas.

I’ve being skiing, not abroad but at the Chill Factor near Manchester’s Trafford Centre. It’s the country’s biggest natural snow ski slope. I’m intermediate and I love it.

When I get the chance I’ve been reading my favourite author, CJ Sanson. It’s his fourth historical thriller ‘Revelation’ and can't put it down. It’s about the internecine goings on at the court of Henry VIII with murder, politics and a great sleuth investigation conducted by a hunchback barrister.

And all the time I’m busy I’m thinking about Rehab4Life, how I want it to work for people who need the help and how coincidences in life shape you - Tracy, Peter, Dave, families I’ve helped. jetlag and lying awake all night in a Chicago hotel room- all that mix of random chances.

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.

The insurance company on the other side denied liability. There was little or no follow up by the medical and therapy professionals in the form of meaningful rehabilitation.

I could not refer her for private rehabilitation because the cost was prohibitive. She therefore had to make do with what the NHS could do for her, which was precious little I regret to say. She suffered badly.  Her productiveness as a human being was marred by the serious difficulties she still encounters because of a lack of any proper rehabilitation. She eventually won her case, but only years later. Money eventually became available to provide rehabilitation but the damage has been done and any future improvement is sadly years too late. She will improve but not to the extent she would have done.

I never want to be in this situation again and I never want a client to be in this situation again. I became determined to do something about it. The Rehab4Life Scheme is the result. It is an excellent solution to the problems faced by brain injury victims who are entitled to make a claim for compensation for their injuries. Sadly, we cannot help victims under the Scheme who are not entitled to make a claim.

We want Rehab4Life to be the start of a sea change of attitude towards this “silent epidemic” – this “invisible injury”. Consequently, we intend to monitor all clients who avail themselves of the Scheme and ultimately, at some point in the future, produce a dossier of evidence to illustrate to the powers that be that the current system is just not good enough and that much more needs to be done to provide optimal rehabilitation for the benefit of all victims.

Our pledge is that we will do everything in our power to challenge the present system in order to try to bring about change, to elevate brain injury rehabilitation at all levels to a more meaningful and effective service, to make it a priority at NHS level and to make it better for all victims. We have set up the Rehab4Life Charitable Trust, with this in mind. Read this blog so that you can keep up to date with our charity's efforts and the responses of those in authority.