Kelly-Ann's story

Girl, 15, whose skull was crushed in horrific riding accident is back on her horse after making miraculous recovery Kelly-Ann suffered a huge rip across the bone of her forehead Lucky teenager says 'I just saw it as a bit of a blip'.

 
Kelly-Ann Challinor's face was crushed after her horse fell on top of her six years ago. She is riding and competing again

A 15-year-old whose whole face was pushed into her skull in a horrific horse riding accident has made a miracle recovery - and is even competing in national eventing competitions.

Kelly-Ann Challinor was just nine when she went out riding on her friend's horse, which reared up unexpectedly and landed on top of her.

The force of the fall left her with multiple fractures to her jaw, cheekbones, eye orbits, nose and skull.

Doctors warned Kelly-Ann's devastated parents that she could die from her injuries and would have severe brain damage even if she survived.

But the youngster was back in the saddle just three months later and is now competing in the British Riding Club Junior National Eventing Championships.

Mother Carol, from Exning, Suffolk, recalled the harrowing incident from April 2005.

She said : 'I honestly didn't believe it was my daughter lying there. It was the most horrific thing - her face was completely crushed.

'One of her eyes looked like it was coming right out. There was blood coming out of her nose and her ear and she was thrashing around.

'It seemed the pony had reared up, gone over backwards and its head had hit Kelly in the face.
'It was just the most awful thing I've ever seen. I heard someone saying 'Kelly, breathe' and I knew something was majorly wrong.

'It wasn't until we got to the hospital that it really hit me and then my wheels just fell off. I was convinced that, if she survived, she would be severely brain damaged.

'When she looked at herself in the mirror and didn't say a word; the tears just rolled silently down her cheeks.

'But she's amazed us all with her recovery. To be honest, we couldn't be more proud.'

Kelly-Ann was rushed to Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, where doctors performed emergency surgery in an attempt to save her life.

A team of 15 medics placed Kelly-Ann into a five-day coma and carried out a series of x-rays which revealed that her face had been pushed back into her skull.

Amongst the most serious injuries was a huge rip across the bone of her forehead and a split at the base of her skull.

Kelly-Ann is pictured in hospital with her brother Robert and her mother Carol after her riding accident. Doctors thought Kelly-Ann was sure to have brain damage Kelly-Ann's father Noel, 42, said: 'Those fractures occurred either side of her riding hat.

 

'If she hadn't been wearing that everything in between would have been crushed too. Without a doubt that hat saved her life.'

 

As the swelling in Kelly-Ann's head subsided doctors planned a complex three-hour operation to reconstruct her flattened face.

 

Surgeons inserted metal plates into her forehead and cheekbone before pulling her bones back into place and securing them with metal wires.

 

3D CT scan of Kelly-Ann's skull: The youngster suffered a huge rip across the bone of her forehead.

 

Kelly-Ann suffered some eye problems and needed a second operation on her sinuses but has astonished experts by slowly making a full recovery.

 

Kelly-Ann was finally discharged from hospital last year and is now able to focus again on competing in horse riding events.

 

She came fifth in the Junior Novice trials at the British Riding Club Junior National Eventing Championships last summer and hopes to become a three-day event rider.

 

Kelly-Ann said: 'I actually don't remember anything about it, not a thing.

 

'To start with I thought I was having a dream. I dreamt I was flying then I heard all these voices around me.

 

'I woke up and all my hair was gone. It sounds silly but that seemed really awful. That was one of the worst moments, second only to removing the plaster from my head.

 

'The nurses let me do it myself, it was so painful and it took me forever.

 

'For months I couldn't bathe or dress or walk unaided. I had to literally crawl up the stairs.

 

'As well as having a headache I was really dizzy, so I couldn't even walk in a straight line. Going from being a really sporty person to that was a bit of a shock.

 

'But I just saw it as a bit of a blip, which meant I couldn't ride for a while. For me it's always been horses ever since I started riding at about five or six.'

 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1388649/Girl-accident-gets-horse-compete-national-competition.html#ixzz1MsigD1N6

Cerebra Awards 2011

After the triumphant success of last year’s Children Awards held at London Zoo we are very proud to announce that nominations for 2011 are now open.

This year’s event will be held at in a magnificent Cotswold’s country house hotel situated in South Gloucestershire. Set in 30 acres of beautiful parkland with its own arboretum, this luxury Cotswold’s hotel will host a gala dinner for our award winners. The event will take place on Monday 24th October 2011.

If you would like to nominate a member of your family or someone you know, please send a 3 minute video nomination, or written nomination to: Melanie Dean, Cerebra Awards 2011, Second floor Offices, The lyric Building, King Street, Carmarthen SA31 1BD.

The deadline date for nominations is the 1st June 2011. This year, for the first time, we are encouraging short video nominations (no more than 3 minutes) that tell the story behind the nomination. Please give as much detail as to who you are nominating, their name, their age and why you feel they should be given the award. We regret to inform that we cannot return any video footage or photographs.

To find out more information regarding different categories and our terms and conditions please visit our website http://www.cerebra.org.uk/ or Contact Melanie Dean on 01267 242556 or by email at melanied@cerebra.org.uk

Many thanks

MelanieDean

Children's Corner & Awards Coordinator

Tel: 01267 242 556

Email: MelanieD@cerebra.org.uk

www.medicinesforchildren.org.uk

http://www.medicinesforchildren.org.uk/

Medicines for Children – Information for Parents

What is Medicines for Children?

Medicines for Children is a programme developed through a joint initiative by the Neonatal and Paediatric Pharmacists Group (NPPG), the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) and WellChild. The Medicines for Children website provides information leaflets specifically about the use of medicines for children. They have been written for parents and carers but are also suitable for older children.

It was launched in spring 2009 with a small number of medicine sheets and the site has now grown to hold about 75 information leaflets on a range of different medicines.

Every medicine is supplied with a patient information leaflet which is written by the pharmaceutical company. However these leaflets are often written about the use of medicine by adults and are often very complex.

 Medicines for Children therefore set out to produce easily understandable information leaflets for parents and carers. The leaflets are written by paediatricians and pharmacists, and reviewed by parents and carers like yourself. Leaflets will continue to be added to the website about other medicines relevant to children.

We want to make sure that our leaflets are accurate, well written, and useful to parents and carers. We use something called the Information Standard, to make sure that this happens. You can find out more about the Information Standard at http://www.theinformationstandard.org/.

Involving Parents

Parents editorial panel

Parents have been at the heart of this project from the very beginning and have directed paediatricians and pharmacists on how the information should be presented and what type of information should be included on each sheet. They have also been involved with the review and editing of new information, however as new sheets are being produced more parents are now urgently needed to be part of the editorial panel. You will not be asked to comment about the medicine itself, or the details of how and when it is given - it is simply a case of making sure that the information is understandable before it is made available on the website.

As we are now developing a new website to be launched later in 2011 we would also like parents to be involved in reviewing and evaluating the new site. This input will ensure that the new site is both practical and appealing. 

We appreciate that your time is probably very limited and to make sure that your involvement is made as easy as possible and without committing you to attend any meetings the proposal is to use telephone and email to communicate with you.

If you decide to join the panel, we will email you draft information sheets from time to time and ask for your feedback within two weeks. Your suggestions will help us make sure the leaflets are helpful to parents and carers.

If you would like to get involved in this exciting project or have any questions about taking part then please contact:

Amy Wright

Family Networks Co-ordinator, WellChild

amywright@wellchild.org.uk

01242 530007

Baby Walkers - care - article from the Belfast Telegraph

Baby walkers can do more harm than good, putting a child at risk of brain injury, according to doctors.

"Despite their name, baby walkers do not help a child learn to walk and, in fact, use of a walker can inhibit walking ability," wrote the doctors of Dublin's Temple Street Children's Hospital in the 'Irish Medical Journal'.

"In countries where baby walkers are used, there has long been controversy about their risks and benefits.

"Parents give various reasons for using walkers -- to keep the infant quiet and happy, to encourage mobility and provide exercise."

They pointed out that baby walkers are often used by parents and care-givers for children aged between five months and 15 months.

Most parents, the doctors said, think that a walker is a safe place to keep children entertained while they tend to other tasks, or they believe the walker will help a baby learn to walk.

"Babies who used walkers scored lower on locomotive development tests than babies who did not use walkers. Furthermore, use of a baby walker puts a baby at increased risk of injuries, which almost always occur to the head," they wrote.

"Given the high rate of injuries combined with their lack of tangible benefit for child-rearing, and the wide availability of safer alternatives, we question why they are allowed to be sold at all.

"In many European countries, baby walkers are linked to more injuries than any other type of nursery equipment, causing an unacceptably high number of severe falls, burns and scalds, and poisonings."

Read more: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/health/baby-walkers-increase-risk-of-brain-injury-doctors-warn-15138708.html#ixzz1IjaiSrb8

Speak Out For Change Experience Survey

If you are affected by Acquired Brain Injury and living in Northern Ireland, the Northern Ireland Neurological Conditions Network wants to hear about your experiences and the impact the condition has on you.

Are you a young person or an adult who is:

• living with a neurological condition;
• caring for someone with a neurological condition;
• in a family where someone has a neurological condition?

If so the Neurological Conditions Network is listening. Here's your chance to have your say-please take it.

The results gathered from this survey will help inform them of their priorities over the next year and will be shared with the people who plan, commission, and deliver services so that they can work to ensure that existing services in Northern Ireland meet your needs.

You can complete it online at the following address: www.speakoutforchange.net

For a paper copy and stamped addressed envelope please contact Julie Mawhinney, Tel: 02890 321313, email neurological.condtions@hscni.net

Or to download a paper copy here: Speak Out for Change Experience Survey- Paper Copy.pdf

Staff from the Neurological Conditions Network will be at the following locations to support you to complete the survey.


Ballymena Library - 28 March
Omagh Library - 31 March
Armagh Library - 5 April
Belfast Library - 6 April

Please do come along and take the opportunity to share your experiences.

No Win, No Fee - It's not all about ambulance chasing!

The justice secretary Ken Clarke Radio 4 Today Programme  ahead of a statement to MPs – to explain why he's going to curtail "no win, no fee" legal activity that encourages ambulance-chasing, dodgy claims and excessive fees for lawyers.

He is also taking a £350m axe to Legal Aid, notably the modest civil aid variety, a move that is causing grave distress to those who seek to promote access to justice for society's poorest.

So when no win, no fee was substituted, lawyers were instead allowed to double the fees claimed against the respondent when they won – a sharp incentive to do such work, knowing that a win would help pay for other cases lost.

What shouldn't be lost though between the wranglings of the government and  the lawyers is the need for very specialised legal expertise for complex and often long term childhood acquired brain injury cases.

Families affected by this (often the poorer and less educated amongst us) have been dealt a double blow.  Not only do they have to cope with the affects of the brain injury which include many hidden aspects (in other words, you don't see it physically), but they also now have to deal with the very real situation of  cuts in service provision and the distinct possibility that they will have limited or no access to compensation, because lawyers will not take on their lengthy and complex cases.

Legal firms who support the work of the Child Brain Injury Trust, do so because they recognise the importance of the 'relationship' and the long term benefit it will bring to the family.  We hope that these firms will continue to value the overall support these families need to enable them to move forward positively with their lives.

No Win, No Fee - it's not all about 'Ambulance Chasers'.

Using the law to challenge cuts

Barrister Steve Broach sets out options for campaigners considering legal challenge.

Steve Broach, a barrister at Doughty Street Chambers, has today published a paper for campaigners – including parents and carers – who are considering challenging local service decisions using the law.

This paper, Using the Law to Fight the Cuts to Disabled Children’s Services, has been written in response to the deep concern that campaigners have expressed that many decisions are currently being taken to cut services for disabled children and families without proper consideration of what the law requires. It is designed to ensure that campaigners have the legal tools to ensure that even in a time of intense pressure on public finances the legal rights of disabled children and their families are respected.

Steve said 'When substantial cuts to services are proposed or announced families with disabled children often feel powerless to respond. However there are clear legal duties which must be complied with by public bodies which wish to cut services - and if these duties are ignored decisions may be overturned by the courts. I hope this paper helps give parent campaigners and others who are trying to defend disabled children's services some of the information they need to challenge these decisions.'

This paper will be followed in the Spring by a guide to the law for parents and carers which provides more detailed practical legal information to support conversations with local decision makers.

Big Lottery Fund News

Five years ago, Theresa McKee got the knock on the door that every parent dreads. Her 5 year old son Jamie had been knocked down by a car and was left with multiple injuries including a serious head injury. Find out how the Child Brain Injury Trust made a difference to Theresa and her family thanks to the Big Lottery Fund in Northern Ireland.

Spending Review October 2010

The Child Brain Injury Trust are concerned that the cumulative impact of a range of cuts and tax rises, including the VAT rise in January 2011, will have a real impact on families affected by childhood acquired brain injury who are only just getting by.  Given the size of reductions in funding going to local authorities and the ending of many grants and benefits, we will be monitoring closely the cuts to local services that families rely on.

Families will be relieved that the DoH budget has been ring-fenced, but this alone does not hold any long term security for the future wellbeing of families in receipt of other benefits and support and could lead to an uncertain period ahead.

If you are concerned about the impact of the cuts on your family, please get in touch with us and let us know how the ‘spending review cuts’ may affect you and tell us your concerns and experience.

Remember, our Helpline offers support to anyone affected by childhood acquired brain injury, and our Child and Family Support Officers are available too.  We also have partners who have specialist knowledge of welfare and benefits, so get in touch and we will do our best to help.

Lisa Turan CEO