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To stay up to date on the activities of the Child Brain Injury Trust please visit our website at www.childbraininjurytrust.org.uk. There you will find more about our:

• Learning events, including conferences, training days and webinars
• Annual fundraising campaigns: Action for Brain Injury Week in May and Be Seen, Not Hurt, our road safety campaign, in October
• Information on acquired brain injury, including our accredited Factsheets
• Contact details for expert legal firms that are members of our Legal Support Service
• Fundraising activities, including how to get involved near you

You can also call our helpline on 0303 303 2248 for more information on childhood acquired brain injury. You can follow us on Twitter @cbituk or find us on Facebook.

Meningitis B Vaccine to become available through NHS

Last Friday it was announced the United Kingdom would become the first country in the world to introduce a national Meningitis B vaccination programme.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), an expert body who advises the government on vaccinations, originally ruled the Meningitis B Vaccine, Bexsero, was not cost effective. Just over one year later they are now recommending this vaccination on the condition that a cost effective solution can be met with the supplier of Bexsero, Novartis.

The decision came after a whole year of campaigning for the vaccination, including 118 paediatricians, scientists and nurses writing to the Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, in January pressing him to reconsider the decision on the Meningitis B vaccine.

According to the charity Meningitis Now there are around 1,870 cases of meningitis B each year in the UK. Meningitis B is most common in under 5’s, with one in ten cases being fatal and one in four suffering from long term problems such as amputation, epilepsy, deafness or an acquired brain injury.

Ben with his Sister, Mia.

The Child Brain Injury Trust works with a number of children who have acquired a brain injury as a result of suffering from meningitis at an early age. One of those families is Ben and his Mother, Sonia. Ben acquired his brain injury after suffering from meningitis and septicaemia when he was just 16 months old.
Upon hearing the news about the meningitis B vaccine, Sonia said:

"Words can't express how happy I feel about the recent announcement, it really is fantastic to think that every infant will shortly be able to receive this vaccine free of charge and not have to go through the pain and heartache for them or their parents of this terrible disease. The hard work and effort of everybody involved from the generation of the vaccine to the campaigning has finally paid off, really great news!"

The vaccination is likely to become available to children over 2 months from 2015.

Friday Fundraiser - Paterson Recruitment Skydive

Today's Friday Fundraisers are the team from Paterson Recruitment in Bicester, who have recently completed their sponsored skydiving challenge.

On a cold but very sunny Saturday at the end of November they met at Hinton Airfield, just North of Bicester, ready to take up the challenge and leap from 10,000 feet. After the safety briefing and training session they got kitted up, and assigned an instructor who would be looking after them throughout their tandem skydive.

The team was made up of staff from the Bicester branch of the business; Stephanie, Chelsea and James, and the owner of the business Gary Paterson.

There were some nerves and uncertainty before their time came to board the plane, but this would soon be replaced by beaming smiles all round as each member of the team floated safely back to earth. All 4 members of the team loved the experience and said they would love to do it again.

Paterson Recruitment have chosen The Child Brain Injury Trust as their charity of the year and the sponsored skydive was their way of kicking things off. It has proven a really positive experience for all involved, and the team are now hungry for more challenges. We look forward to working with them on their next adventure, and we’ll keep you posted on how we get on!

If you would like show your support to the team from Paterson Recruitment, and the Child Brain Injury Trust, visit their Just Giving page:  www.justgiving.com/PatersonRecruitment

Their fundraising is an exciting way to support the Charity and continue to raise awareness. Please help us to spread the word and visit our website for more information on our services and forthcoming events.

If you have been inspired by this story and would like to take on a challenge of your own, get in touch NOW. We can create bespoke events for you and your colleagues and are always happy to talk to new supporters and fundraisers.

Would you like to get involved this Christmas?

This year we are hoping to launch our first ever Christmas Campaign. We are hoping, with your help, to put together the Child Brain Injury Trust advent calendar. 

We are looking for short videos to share throughout the Christmas period to raise awareness of the Charity and to spread some festive spirit.

It is simple to get involved; all you need is 30 seconds (can be less time) and a video recording devise – such as a smart phone.



Here are a few ideas to get you on the way to making a Christmas video for our advent calendar:

• Get your children to record a Christmas song or message
• Share your family's story 
• Talk about how the Child Brain Injury Trust was able to help - can you sum it up in one sentence?
• Send us your thank you messages for the charity
• Tell us a Christmas joke!

Please send us your advent videos to emilyhoney@cbituk.org by Monday 25th November and visit the website during December to find out what door you will be behind.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Thank you and we look forward to receiving your videos.

Friday Fundraiser - Landmark Challenge!

Braving the elements for fundraising fun

 

We were very proud of our volunteer abseilers who, on the 27th October, took the plunge - literally and metaphorically! - by completing a 165ft freefall, SAS-style abseil from one of Scotland's most iconic landmarks: the Forth Bridge.

The weather just about held out with a few spits of rain as participants made their way up to the walkway of the bridge.  Some were excited, some were very, very nervous but everyone completed it, enjoyed it and were delighted to be helping to support their local Child and Family Support Project.

Almost £3000 has been raised for our Scottish Project, which will make a huge difference to our work here.  We rely on the support of individuals to get involved with challenges such as these.  If you'd like to get involved in this, or any other type of fundraising activity in Scotland, please get in touch with Claire Murray in our Edinburgh office. 

The abseil is an annual event - if you've been inspired, why not give it a go next year?

Friday Fundraisers - Mud, Sweat and Tears of Laughter

Andrew Tee, our Community Fundraiser for the South, reports on an extreme day of fundraising.

Today's Friday Fundraisers are the intrepid/brave/mad/adventurous/stupid* (*delete as applicable!) team of Paul, Steve, Dave, Helen, Lucy, Sean and Andrew (me!). A couple of weeks ago we took part in a sponsored event to raise a few pounds for the charity. I had told the team that the day would be ‘a bit of a cross country run, with maybe a bit of mud, and the odd obstacle’! Little did we know exactly how extreme the Rock Solid Race, in woodland near Silverstone race circuit, would actually be.  

The course was 10K of off road running over dozens of man-made obstacles, through deep mud, over 8ft walls, through lakes and freezing skips full of ice & water. The team ran the race together, helping each other over, under and through all of the obstacles. We were especially pleased to have Paul and Steve on the team as, being the tallest in the team, they were essential in heaving us over the tall walls and bigger obstacles.

Not only were we dunked in deep slimy mud, thrown into a lake and subjected to electric shocks and barbed wire, but at one stage we had to run up and down a huge steep hill, whilst each carrying a heavy log on our shoulders!

Whilst this was without doubt a very tough physical challenge, it was also really enjoyable and there were many moments of laughter throughout the race. Not least when I found a submerged concrete post in the middle of the very first water obstacle and ended up doing a full somersault head first into the filthy, muddy, freezing water!

The team made it successfully round the course in just under 2 hours, a fantastic result. Utterly exhausted and covered in mud and bruises we all agreed it was great fun and that we’ll be taking part again next year.

If you would like show your support to the team, and the Child Brain Injury Trust, visit their Just Giving page.

This sort of fundraising event is an exciting way to support the charity and continue to raise awareness for us. Please help us to spread the word and visit our website for more information on our services and forthcoming events.

If you would like to take on a similar challenge to support us, or would like to talk about other less extreme fundraising events, get in touch NOW.

Be Seen, Not Hurt Blog Series - A Message From Our CEO

'Be Seen, Not Hurt' 

Child Brain Injury Trust CEO rounds up last week's of campaign activity 

Here at the Child Brain Injury Trust we’re passionate about the families of brain injured children that we support across the UK, but we’re also passionate about promoting safety and awareness in the hope of preventing more children acquiring a serious injury as a result of an accident.

Many of the families we have supported over the past 22 years have a child who has acquired their brain injury as the result of an accident, either crossing the road, whilst cycling or as a passenger in a car.

Road accidents involving children have a devastating effect on a family, and are sadly still all too common. The aim of our week long ‘Be Seen, Not Hurt’ campaign was to highlight the dangers of roads as we head into the darker nights of winter once the clocks go back. We aimed our message at school age children, and focused on staying safe whilst cycling, scooting, skating and crossing roads, and we encouraged children, and adults, to always wear a helmet whilst taking part in certain activities.

It is not a new message, but it is an important message, and it is the first time we have concentrated on road safety in this way with such a targeted campaign. We have been really pleased with the response from families, schools, businesses and individuals who got involved and helped spread the word.

Our teams across the country worked hard all week, and in the weeks running up, to promote this campaign. They have been talking to hundreds of children in schools all over the country, from reception classes and nurseries through to secondary school children. They have also been busy handing out thousands of reflective ‘slap wrap’ bands, thanks to our campaign sponsor Thompson Solicitors who funded them.

It was a busy week too with social media. It has been great to hear the stories of families who have been affected by a brain injury, and from people passionate about promoting the use of safety helmets for cycling and other sports.

Please continue to share the stories and messages from the campaign to as many people as you can. If you'd like to support our work, please send a text donation to 70070. Simply text CBIT13 £10 (or whatever amount you'd like to donate). 

We are not stopping now, we’ll continue to promote safety and awareness throughout the year, and we will be using lots of the resources and messages that we have developed for this campaign every time we go out and visit schools.

Thank you to everyone who has supported this important campaign, and don’t forget, if you want any further information about the work of the charity, or safety and prevention, please get in touch and we’ll be very happy to talk to you.

Be Seen, Not Hurt Blog Series - Day 7

On the 2nd April 2008, Naomi’s life changed forever. She ran out and was hit by a skip truck. At the time Naomi was only three and a half years old.

It was not just Naomi life’s that changed that day; it affected her whole family. For our final campaign week blog, we want to highlight the effects of brain injury on the whole family. You often see parents’ cycling with their children – the child is wearing a helmet but the parent is not. The effects of brain injury are life long and can have a devastating impact on the whole family.

Following Naomi’s accident she was immediately taken by air ambulance to Great Ormond Street Hospital; Naomi was only in hospital for a couple of months and was discharged following rehabilitation in June 2008. Naomi had made a good physical recovery. But, as many parents will tell you, being discharged from the Hospital is just the start.

The biggest hurdle facing Naomi’s family was finding a way to manage Naomi’s behavioural problems that were a result of her accident. To start with Naomi could barely concentrate for over a minute. Naomi’s mother, Marylene, gave up her job and dedicated her time to focusing on her daughter.

Marylene was in contact with the Child Brain Injury Trust from a very early stage and we were able to offer the whole family support. One of the key areas the Charity helped with was training and education. Our Training Manager attended Naomi’s school and helped educate the staff on brain injury and ways to accommodate Naomi’s additional needs.

This week marked the start of the Child Brain Injury Trust’s first ever prevention campaign; this is a new form of education for us. Similar to the help offered to Naomi’s school following her accident, staff were able to go into schools this week raising awareness and spreading a preventative message about road safety.

Naomi is now 9 years old and her family are learning to live with the effects of brain injury. Marylene had these words to share with other families affected by ABI: “I want other families to know there is always light at the end of the tunnel. Turn obstacles in to opportunity to make things better and more manageable. Pain is overcome through progress as every achievement is celebrated. Children with an acquired brain injury do have the ability to excel in life. Be open-minded through open doors. Parents we are much bigger than our circumstances.”

All our blog posts this week have highlighted that life changing moments can happen in the blink of an eye and we can never fully prepare for them. The Child Brain Injury Trust is here to support the whole family following a childhood acquired brain injury, but we also hope that by sharing stories like Naomi’s people will ‘Be Seen, Not Hurt’.

The Child Brain Injury Trust is a registered charity; if you would like to pledge your support then please text CBIT13 £5 to 70070.

Be Seen, Not Hurt Blog Series - Day 6

'I would not have gone on my adventure without a helmet'

Round the World Cyclist Tom Bruce shares his experience  

A bit about me 

I have always liked cycling and I have always wanted to travel. The first time I linked the two passions was when I did a coast-to-coast ride in the UK with my mate Jonny after my GCSEs. I then did a trans-Alp tour from Munich to Lake Garda off-road, which was absolutely amazing. I fell in love with bike touring and decided I needed to do something bigger. I read books by people who’d done adventures in the past and decided to do a long tour. I thought about Europe at first – a tour around Europe sounded good. Then I started thinking what about Asia, was that possible? I decided it was, so I thought, if I could cross Europe and Asia, I might as well try to cycle around the world. I thought I might as well do it properly, so I set myself the challenge of cycling every inch of the distance, no public transport was allowed! I left with no idea whether I would succeed and that was part of the excitement for me.

An overview of my trip – around the world by bike 

I left home on 13th March, 2011 and cycled from my front door, across the UK to Dover. I took the ferry to France and cycled along an amazing route through Europe, with a new country every couple of days. Highlights included the Black Forest, the Danube River bike track and finishing Europe in Istanbul.

The Caucuses came next and were absolutely beautiful. Georgia is my favourite country from the trip. Amazing mountains, the friendliest people I’ve met, beautiful Orthodox Christian churches, amazing food and a brilliant capital city. After crossing Azerbaijan, I took the Caspian Sea ferry to the middle of nowhere, the lonely city of Aktau in Western Kazakhstan. I remember sitting on the deck of the ferry across the Caspian Sea, looking at maps and trying to persuade myself that what I was about to do was possible. I arrived in Aktau and set off into the desert. Quickly the temperature shot up to 47 degress and I had to take 23 kg of water to make sure I would have enough between water stops. The road was dreadful, cut up, corrugated, with sand traps and no shelter from the sun. I was constantly getting shaken about and rattled around, as was my bike, which did an amazing job of surviving and carrying my luggage. It was so hot that that the rear wheel rim heated up enough to melt holes in the inner tube. I got ill on two occasions and was sick a couple of times. I had to cycle 100 km per day over about 2,000 km to get through Uzbekistan before my visa ran out. It was a very tough three weeks, but looking back on this, it was probably the most rewarding part of the trip. It was followed by the most amazing cities I’ve ever been to, the ancient Silk Road trading towns of Khiva, Bukhara and Samarkand in Uzbekistan.

The part of the trip that I was most looking forward to was the Pamir Highway in Tajikistan. Unfortunately, I got very ill with a tummy bug and was worried that I wouldn’t be fit enough to cycle over the 4,000+ metre passes before my visa expired. I took a day off in Khorog because I was feeling too weak to ride, then left the following morning. I managed to ride a morning, and then met a Pamiri doctor, who took me in for the night. He was an amazing person. I just slept all day and drank a local remedy that he concocted from herbs. Whatever it was worked and the next day I was good to go. I cycled the Wakhan valley along the Afghan border then over a series of high mountain passes on the stunning Pamir Highway.

Krygyzstan was fantastic, full of high altitude pastures and nomads who invited me into their yurts. The gone-off mare’s milk was disgusting though!

China was a great experience, but a difficult too. The people in the small towns and villages find it very difficult to communicate with foreigner, which makes travel a challenge. I cycled with my cousin Phil through China though and this helped during the more difficult times. We crossed a large desert before reaching the Tibetan Plateau, and then cycled through the industrial east, to the coast. We made time to visit many tourist attractions, including a large Buddhist Monastery, the Terracotta Army and the Great Wall.

America was another world from what I was used to and I suffered reverse culture shock, looking at the vast amount of wealth in San Francisco when I arrived! My friend Harry joined me for this part of the trip and we got really into the riding though. We cycled through beautiful National Parks, like Yosemite and Death Valley, before crossing the Rockies and finally followed the gulf coast to Florida.

Wearing a helmet 

I would not have gone on my adventure without a helmet. To me, it is a necessity. Anyone riding a bike should wear a helmet, whether on-road or off. When I was about 14, I had a nasty fall on my mountain bike. I am a good rider, and can ride technical descents quickly and confidently, but there is nothing I could have done about this fall. My front inner tube got a massive pinch puncture and deflated in about a second. I hit a rock, when flying and landed on my head. The back of my helmet hit another large rock and smashed and cracked. My head was absolutely fine and I walked away with nothing worse than a grazed knee, thanks to the helmet.

Helmets are cheap and comfortable and even look pretty good these days – they’ve come a long way in the last few years. Vents keep your head cool and if you do a lot of night riding (like I do) they’re a great place to mount a light. It makes a big difference to have a light on your head, rather than the handlebars because it is always shining where you are looking.

So in short, get out and ride… but not without a helmet.

For more about my trip, including my blog, photos, route, kit list and much more, visit www.tombrucecycling.com 

My book, “Every Inch of the Way; My Bike Ride around the World”, is now available on Amazon and tells the full story of my journey around the world.

Be Seen Not Hurt Blog Series - Day 5

Ben’s Story – Ben’s Mum Sonia shares the story of Ben’s brain injury 

Ben with his younger sister, Mia. 

When Ben was 16 months old he contracted meningitis and septicaemia. The week previous to this he had a bad tummy bug and was very unwell and just didn't pick up to his usual happy self. On the Sunday he had a slight temperature and was very cuddly but had no other symptoms at this point. By 5am on the Monday morning he was fitting.  

Ben was admitted into the John Radcliffe Children’s Hospital in Oxford where he spent two days before he needed a transfer to Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital for specialist care because he had kidney failure.  

Ben was a real fighter. Every few days on life support Ben would try to come off it himself for a short time and eventually he managed it for longer periods at a time. Then his kidneys regained function, but he was left with a bad left sided weakness. He couldn't talk, walk, eat solid food for a while but he was here and with us. 

After a few months we realised there were other problems. By the age of 3 he was walking again, talking and nothing was standing in his way, but he's nearly 7 now and the problems are prevalent in every minute of his life. He has no off switch and cries at night because he can't switch his brain off. He gets a 'fuzzy head' a lot of days that he just can't explain.  

Ben is a very caring and wonderful person who looks after his friends at school. He's very good at school, but finds it hard to concentrate at times and battles fatigue most days. He finds concentrating at school a problem and he hums continually but doesn't realise it's happening, so when he comes home he lets all of his frustrations out. 

He also seems to have lost his barriers to basic safety awareness and is a lot more impulsive. His lack of danger awareness, in and out of the home, is a real worry, especially around roads and traffic. 

After everything he has been through he is doing amazingly well though and is in a mainstream school with supportive teachers and friends and he loves getting up in the morning (most of the time), it's just a continual worry about his day to day safety.  

We are now working with the Child Brain Injury Trust and Dogs for the Disabled on a pilot project using a ‘community dog’ to try and help Ben cope better with some day to day situations. Over the next few months Ben will be spending a few hours a week with the dog and its handler, and they will together be working on developing Ben’s awareness of danger. 

In particular the project will aim to use the dog to encourage Ben to be aware of traffic, to avoid stepping off the pavement whilst walking and to learn to stop at the roadside and be able to cross safely. We are all looking forward to getting started and are keen to see what results are possible. We’re very proud that Ben has recently learnt to ride his bike, and so any improvement of awareness of dangers around roads will be a great result.