About

When I got to the hospital, he was unable to speak, mum was a complete catatonic mess. I realised in that moment that neither of them could speak or communicate. It was like having two babies to care for. That moment will never leave me till the day I die.

My 20 year old son was living in Brisbane, he was suffering his own mental disability, and viewed his grandfather as his father. The next time he saw my Dad he was devastated. The Father he knew was no more. When he was confronted with this severe physical change from Dad’s brain injury he just didn’t know how to cope. My whole family was falling apart.

I decided to make a mental and emotional decision that it was now up to me to step up and take a position of leadership in the family. I had to find the courage and confidence to speak to the doctors every day, and every morning I had to prepare myself mentally to deal with whatever the doctors told me on the daily calls and visits. It was such a struggle to battle my own emotions and stay strong through the mental fog, but I could see no other way other than total collapse.

If I hadn’t have done that there would have been no communication, we would all have been lost. No-one would have known if my Dad was alive or dead. I was the only one that could keep the calm, and keep the line of communication open with the rest of the family. I realised I needed to sit down and work out a mental and intuitive plan to deal with the situation, to help not only my Dad, but also my Mum and my kids, to help them get through the next day. One day at a time. Being in that mind-set is what kept me afloat. Working to help everyone around me, and knowing that only I could take this on and keep my family afloat. I deliberately grounded myself every night to prepare myself for the next day, and became the force of Mum and Dad to help keep us all together.

The more I worked my plan, the stronger I got, and the more able I was to make the important decisions, and trust that I was doing the right thing for my family. I set my boundaries and agreed a communication strategy with my family so that I wasn’t depleted by re-telling my story to multiple people every day.

Since his recovery, my Dad told me that every day he saw Mum falling apart he realised the effect of his condition on her and how he wished he was dead, because that would at least reduce the pain his wife was suffering. His condition was weakening because he was giving up the will to live and could see no other option. Realising this I decided to put more energy into making Mum more engaged, and comfortable with the situation. It was the little things I did every day that brought her out of isolation and into the rest of the family unit. This really helped my Dad in his recovery as he could see a massive difference in his wife, the woman he had loved for so many years.

My dad was frequently drifting into unconsciousness and the nurses were unable to raise him for medication and food despite numerous attempts. He was giving up. However, the nurses said that they couldn’t believe how he would come back to consciousness every time we came to the ward. Having a positive outlook and sticking together made all the difference, he was starting to see hope instead of despair and things started to turn around. We gave him back the will to live.

For the next month in high-dependency care he started to slowly recover. With regular visits and sticking to the plan his recovery was incredible. He was transferred to rehab for another few months and then we started to transition him back home. This was not as easy as it may sound, as he had become institutionalised in the hospital environment, and started to refer to hospital as home. He was fearful of being at home even for a day visit. I now had to deal with his overwhelm, and the family’s frustration. There were so many uncertainties to deal with. I created a new plan for the next stage of healing and get the family back to some normality and a new way of being together. This future building was also critical to the rebuilding of our family for the future.

Having helped my family to endure and survive this incredible life-changing event I am now dedicated to providing the guidance and support to other families going through the same experience as I did. I can’t promise it will be easy, but I can promise to do everything I can to help keep families afloat during the hardest and darkest days. I am here to provide you with the support to feel strong and confident and courageous enough to face another day.

I will provide the emotional support and step-by-step guidance to give you hope, strength, and the courage to take on another day.

Please reach out and let me help you..