Kerry* was 11 years old when she was found unconscious on the side of the road. It was January 1996 and she was on school holidays. Great day for a bike ride.
What really caused Kerry to come off her bike we will never know because there was no witness to the event. Her fall however, had resulted in her sustaining a severe penetrating brain injury, where the handle bar of her bike entered the right side of her skull.
She spent the next 7 days in intensive care as doctors battled to manage the hemorrhaging in her skull and her ongoing raised intracranial pressure.
She then went to a Rehabilitation Hospital. Where she remained for 10 months. Then she went home, where as an outpatient she had physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, and hydrotherapy.
All this therapy had to be overseen by Kerry’s dad. In an another sad part to Kerry’s story, her mum had died of cancer while Kerry had still been recovering in the rehab hospital.
Kerry came to us at the Heartwell Foundation about 18 months after coming of her bike. An Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) is an awful thing to happen to someone and the difficult thing for us can be, imagining what life should have been for that person. At 12 years old Kerry was tall and blonde and full of personality. Her brain injury however had affected her physically. Her left arm and leg had poor and limited function. This made her very unsteady and created a high risk of falls. For long distances she needed a wheelchair but her weak left arm meant someone needed to push her. She had cognitive deficits and auditory processing difficulties both of which meant she required much cueing and prompting to follow instructions. Behaviorally Kerry also had some problems. She could be aggressive at times and impulsive. Initially she had poor insight into her situation and her new limitations.
“While research has demonstrated that thinking and behavior may be altered in virtually all forms of ABI, brain injury is itself a very complex phenomenon having dramatically varied effects.[2] No two persons can expect the same outcome or resulting difficulties.[2] The brain controls every part of human life: physical, intellectual, behavioral, social and emotional. When the brain is damaged, some part of a person's life will be adversely affected.[2] In children and youth with ABI the cognitive and emotional difficulties that stem from their injury can negatively impact their level of participation in home, school and other social situations,[5] participation in structured events has been found to be especially hindered under these circumstances.[5] Involvement in social situations is important for the normal development of children as a means of gaining an understanding of how to effectively work together with others.[5] Furthermore, young people with ABI are often reported as having insufficient problem solving skills.[6] This has the potential to hinder their performance in various academic and social settings further.[6] It is important for rehabilitation programs to deal with these challenges specific to children who have not fully developed at the time of their injury.[5]
Kerry came to the Heartwell Foundation for a specialised Physical Education program. The aim was to overlap with her physiotherapy program to develop better muscular endurance, strength and flexibility. Kerry also needed to relearn her fundamental motor skills lost in her accident. Being only 12 years old she had a lifetime of activity ahead of her. She needed to develop the confidence to be active again. She needed to participate in school and community sport. She needed to relearn feelings of “can do”. We worked with her on the fundamentals of throwing, catching, striking, kicking, jumping, bowling and swimming. While at the same time, fitness development was crucial. We had particular success with school based sessions where the school curriculum was implemented into Kerry’s individual sessions. She enjoyed that-especially the attention!
We worked with Kerry for many years, on and off. Depending on her health needs and other things going on in her life. The activity which eventually Kerry found an enthusiasm for was a gym and swim program. Yeah! She had developed into a competent swimmer and she learnt that complementing that activity with resistance training would be really good for her health.
The last time we saw Kerry she was “working out” in her community gym. We remember her as a young girl and then a teenager, where in fact she is 27 years old now.
*Names have been changed for privacy reasons.
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