Patients & families

This blog was written thanks to the expertise of the Brian Barr Solicitors team, including Alex Cohen, Philip Cohen and Steven Akerman, leading experts in compensation claims for chronic pain and serious injury. Road Safety Week is a time to stop and reflect – not just on the numbers, but on the people behind them. [...]

A County Durham man will walk 500 miles for charity, five years after sustaining a brain injury. Nigel Price, a specialist long-distance charity hiker from Shildon, aims to raise at least £5,000 for Rutherford House, an independent living scheme run by Durham Aged Mineworkers' Homes Association (DAMHA). The trek will start at Durham Cathedral and [...]

A biology teacher has become the first UK patient to receive CAR T-cell therapy for multiple sclerosis (MS) as part of a global clinical trial. Emily Henders, 37, received the treatment at University College London Hospital last week after being diagnosed with MS on Christmas Eve 2021. CAR T-cell therapy is tailored for each patient [...]

A charity supporting almost 200 people affected by brain injuries has announced it will close due to significant financial difficulties. Headway Norfolk and Waveney operates seven day centres and outreach support groups in King’s Lynn, Norwich, Dereham, Long Stratton and Great Yarmouth for individuals and their families affected by brain injuries. The service, which has [...]

A paralysed Grand National-winning jockey has helped raise more than £60,000 at Wetherby Racecourse’s annual Northern Raceday. Graham Lee, who was paralysed from the neck down after a fall at Newcastle nearly two years ago, was among more than 300 guests at the fundraising event for Spinal Research. Now in its 35th year, the event [...]

A mother who lives with constant pain after medical errors left her with a spinal injury and bowel paralysis is campaigning to raise awareness of its warning signs. Toni-Claire Miller, a single mother of two from Kent, was 32 when she was repeatedly "fobbed off" by GPs after reporting numbness in her legs, excruciating back [...]

By Lucy Babbs, speech and language therapist, Ascot Rehab When 56-year-old Bernard* arrived at the Ascot Rehabilitation centre in Streatham, London, he was facing one of the biggest challenges of his life: rebuilding his ability to communicate. A fit and energetic man, Bernard had been thriving in an executive role and busy with family life [...]

By Victoria Johnson, Pennington’s Manches Cooper Severe brain injury at birth is one of the most devastating outcomes of clinical negligence. The consequences are not only medical but profoundly personal for the families involved. Part of our role as clinical negligence solicitors is to ensure that families are supported in the aftermath, within the framework [...]

A man who lost three family members to Huntington's disease is completing a 100km challenge to raise awareness and break stigma around the condition. Mark Barrett, 38, from Howwood, Scotland, is taking on four half marathons and a triathlon over nine weeks after losing his father Frank, grandfather John and uncle Raymond to the inherited [...]

A brain injury survivor from Loxley has completed a 2,650-mile trek from Mexico to Canada for the Child Brain Injury Trust, raising more than £13,000 for charity. Ten years ago, Will Baxter was given a devastating prognosis. After suffering a sudden brain haemorrhage that paralysed the entire left side of his body, doctors told him [...]