After sustaining a TBI following a serious assault, Ian was left with no memory of his life or his beloved family. Here, his wife Bethan shares their story of rebuilding their lives.
The excitement of Christmas 2019 became devastation in an instant, when Ian was attacked on Christmas Eve.
He was walking home in Cheshire, accompanied by wife Bethan and their three young children, when he was punched unexpectedly by a person he didn’t know.
Ian was knocked to the floor and hit his head on the curb, causing a brain injury which led to a blood clot in the temporal lobe.
Ian, 40, had his first brain operation that night and woke from a coma on Christmas Day.
He spent four days extremely confused and disorientated, which doctors discovered was due to brain swelling. Ian then had a second operation to remove a large piece of skull to alleviate the pressure on his brain.
Bethan then watched her husband lie in a second coma, this time medically induced, at Liverpool’s Walton Centre neurological hospital for the next five weeks.
But when Ian woke, he had forgotten who he was, that he was married to Bethan and that he was a dad to his three children – Penny, five, Casper, three, and Rufus, two.
A dental nurse, Bethan had never taken any sick leave before, but knew she would now be forced to leave her job to care for her husband for the foreseeable future.
“I couldn’t go to work and we were struggling for money,” says Bethan.
“Even driving to the hospital to visit Ian had cost a lot of money, paying for the tunnel toll and parking.
“Ian was the one who worked full time and on my part time wage I couldn’t cover everything.
“After he came out of the hospital, I became Ian’s carer.”
Ian continues to recover after the assault, but still has some paralysis in his vocal cords, is deaf in his right ear, struggles with extreme headaches, can become very dizzy and disorientated so is yet to leave the house alone.
He is also waiting for another operation to have a plate fitted in his skull, but Bethan says there have been lots of improvements.
“He’s really strong, he can walk well as long as he takes it slow. He’s getting clarity of mind, each week as his head gets less foggy,” she says.
“He’s positive and determined about that future and especially determined to play with our kids as much as he used to.”
In the early days after Ian’s injury, the family were left struggling to cope with the circumstances they found themselves in.
They turned to The Brain Charity, after Bethan found a leaflet in a family room at the Walton Centre.
The family found support from information and advice officer Vanessa, who enabled them to access support they were entitled to, including PIP, Statutory Sick Pay, ESA and grants.
“Vanessa was constantly professional throughout, it felt like we were friends,” says Bethan.
“She was constantly there for me, helped me apply for all sorts of benefits, put me in contact with a solicitor and even went along to my first meeting with them to give me a bit of emotional support.”
Inspired by the support The Brain Charity have given her family, Bethan will be starting a degree in Public Health and Wellbeing this September.
“I hope that by doing it, I’ll be able to help other people the way Vanessa helped me,” she adds.
To help sustain the work of The Brain Charity, visit https://cafdonate.cafonline.
