Another Successful Parent and Carer's Pamper Day in Northern Ireland

This year our Northern Ireland Parent and Carer's Pamper Day was organised by our new member of staff, Gayle Baird. The event was held at the Hilton Hotel and Country Club in Templepatrick; 15 of our parents and carers from the surrounding areas attended for a relaxing day of spa treatments and use of the hotel's facilities.

All were able to make use of the Jacuzzi, steam room, sauna and swimming pool at the hotel. On top of this each parent was entitled to a treatment at the spa. The most popular treatments were an aromatherapy back massage – popular with the dads - while most mums went for a body scrub treatment. According to those who attended, the body scrub treatment left people smelling of roses. The treatment's were such a success one of the parent's remarked that afterwards she had the best nights sleep in years.

All parents also attended a lunch with Gayle and Gillian, our Child and Family Support Coordinator in the area. We would like to thank those parents who came along, as it was such a successful day, and we have had some really positive feedback. One parent mentioned it was not only a relaxing day, but also a good chance to meet and talk to other parents.

During the lunch our staff received a special surprise as Joanne Regan presented them with a £1000 cheque. Joanne cycle from the most northerly point of Ireland to the most southerly point, Mizen Head, Cork. Congratulations and thank you to Joanne for her recent fundraising.

Cheque Presentation with Gillian and Gayle

If you would like any more information of events in the Northern Ireland area, please do not hesitate to contact Gayle Baird.

Thank you to our Northern Ireland team and to the Hilton Hotel in Templepatrick.

Posted by Emily Honey, Fundraising Assistant.

Brain injury families need strong network of support - Belfast Telegraph Article

The brain controls who we are, what we think, feel and do. It's a little-known fact that, through accident or illness, an estimated one in 30 children and young people in the UK will sustain a brain injury each year. As the injury happens after birth, we call it an acquired brain injury (ABI).

Thankfully, most will make a great physical recovery; they will be discharged from hospital and, eventually, return to school. Life kind of gets back to normal.

Over time, however, there may be some changes in personality and/or behaviour that might be of concern. They may look perfectly fine, but it's obvious that all is not okay.

The full effects of the brain injury may not be known for some time, perhaps even years after the event. This is because the young person's brain is still developing.

Did you know that your brain continues to develop until you are well into your early twenties? It's the not knowing that is hardest for most parents we work with.

Often, it is increasing demands of being at secondary school that brings issues to light. For those with an ABI, it can be very difficult indeed.

A young person with an ABI may often tire more easily, leading to problems with concentration and taking instructions.

There can also be issues with memory, where a child can remember information they learnt prior to brain injury, but then struggle to take on new information.

This can be incredibly frustrating for the young person and confusing for their teachers and family.

Sometimes, changes in personality can also take place; essentially, friends and family have to get to know a slightly different person.

Part of the support the Child Brain Injury Trust provides helps children and young people maintain friends and explains to peers what happens when you have an acquired brain injury.

It's important to say that every child is different; there is no textbook to explain how to deal with someone who has an ABI.

How and where the injury takes place in the brain has a lot to do with it too, so the nature of the damage may vary.

Your skull is only about as thick as three pennies stacked on top of each other, so even if the skull is not fractured, the brain can be jarred, potentially damaging our internal 'wiring'.

When a child returns to school and these non-medical issues arise, it can be hard for parents to know what to do. This is where the Child Brain Injury Trust can help.

We can supply information, support and training to anyone affected by childhood-acquired brain injury. This includes the child, or young person, themselves, their family and the professionals who support them.

We produce factsheets and publications and also offer training workshops and masterclass lectures.

There are events and activities for families to take part in and through our Give a Child a Chance small grants scheme, we can purchase equipment to help children.

Individual family support is delivered through our team of regional child and family support co-ordinators (there are two covering Northern Ireland).

Of course, all the work we do is only possible through the generosity of supporters and we are fortunate in Northern Ireland to receive some funding from the health and social care boards.

However, we want to be able to expand our services, so that we are able to reach more families, offer more events and increase the number of activities to the families we support.

In order to do this, we need your help. If you are interested in doing something for charity, whether it's big or small, why not do it for the Child Brain Injury Trust?

Lisa Turan is chief executive of the Child Brain Injury Trust www.childbraininjurytrust.org.uk.

This article was published in the Belfast Telegraph on Thursday 20th June 2013.

Friday Fundraiser - Pascal Arnoux

As a new feature we have decided to highlight a supporter fundraiser who has gone above and beyond the call duty. We will aim to make this a fortnightly feature, but we thought 'Fortnightly Friday Fundraiser' was a bit of a mouth full. 

The Friday Fundraiser for this week is Pascal Arnoux. Pascal is planning to cycle from Lands End to John O'Groats. But this is no ordinary cycle ride, along with a team of 6, Pascal aims to cycle from one end to the country to the other in relay taking no more than 60 hours. Among the team joining him, is his son Olivier. The team set off at 8am on Sunday 30th June and plan to arrive at John O'Groats on Tuesday 2nd July by 8pm.

We would like to thank Pascal and his team for their wonderful fundraising so far. To date they have raised £2645. They had originally set themselves a target of £2000; however, after speaking to Pascal the other day he is now aiming for £3000 in light of the generosity of friends, family and customers.

In order to raise the money Pascal has been running a raffle; he is raffling off a gourmet night meal for two in his restaurant, The Old Vicarage.Tickets are £10 each and they will continue to be sold throughout the summer, with a draw at the end of September. We would like to thank Pascal and his customers for their support.

We truly appreciate all of our fundraisers, and understand everyone has their own reasons for fundraising. Pascal chose to fundraise for the charity after a good friend of his passed away recently.

"Sadly a good friend of mine, Steve, passed away only a month ago. Even more tragically, Steve's son Harry was recently involved in a hit and run accident, which resulted in Harry being struck by an oncoming train after the car he and his mother were travelling in was pushed onto the railway. After being in a coma for a couple of months, he is now slowly recovering from his injuries at the Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool. It is because of this that I have decided, in memory of Steve, to raise money for the charity which continues to help take such good care of his son."

If you would like to show your support for Pascal his fundraising page is: www.justgiving.com/pascal-arnoux.

One last thank you to Pascal and everyone who has donated to his team. With the help of fundraiser's like Pascal, we can continue to support children like Harry.

If you are interested in holding your own fundraising event, then feel free to contact Emily Honey, who would be happy to discuss it with you.

Issues of ABI and Youth Offenders Finally Being Discussed in Parliment

As a charity who are actively involved in raising awareness of the link between brain injury and youth offending we were pleased to hear the Justice Secretary, Chris Grayling's speech yesterday.

Justice Secretary Chris Grayling mentioned the important statistics relating to brain injury and youth offending in a passage outlining the needs of young people in custody. Mr Grayling said:

“Astonishingly, it’s far more likely than not that if you’re a young person in custody you will have experienced a traumatic brain injury. Somewhere between 65 and 70%”

You can view the whole speech here: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/crime-in-context-speech.

This statement was not news to us here at the Child Brain Injury Trust. We have been working with professionals from youth offending services to raise awareness of the issues for the last four years, and to help support these young people. So far we have trained almost 1,000 practitioners in the area, with almost no funding.Our Training Manager, Louise Wilkinson, even received the UKABIF award for Inspiration in 2012 for her awareness raising work on behalf of young offenders affected by acquired brain injury.

We are co-founders of the cross representative Criminal Justice and Acquired Brain Injury Interest Group formed in October 2010, and are delighted that the issues we have known about for some time are at least being highlighted in parliament – but we still have a long way to go to really support this group of vulnerable people.

If you would like to hear more about our youth offending work, then please feel free to contact Louise Wilkinson.

A Thank You From Our Chief Executive - Action for Brain Injury Week.

Our main aim during Action for Brain Injury Week was to raise awareness of childhood acquired brain injury; many people are unaware that an accident or illness during childhood can go on to have long lasting consequences as it affects a child’s brain development.

We used Action for Brain Injury Week as an opportunity to highlight some of the experiences families have faced following childhood brain injury.  Their stories gave a touching and enlightening picture of what they have faced and how they have overcome many obstacles. However, above all their stories demonstrate strength and resilience at a time in their lives when they are at their most vulnerable.  Their strength drives us on to ensure that more families have access to information and the vital support when they need it to help them cope with childhood brain injury.

We also highlighted the magnificent support both families and our corporate supporters like JMW solicitors have given us.  Without their support we would struggle to meet the demand for our services on a daily basis.  We are indebted to them for their efforts especially in these difficult times.

Each year there are many thousands of families who face a new life, one they did not ask for or deserve and it falls to charity’s like ours to provide support through our Helpline, our direct support programme and through the awareness raising we do about the long term consequences of childhood brain injury and the affect it can have on the whole family.

Action for Brain Injury Week does not stop for us on the 19th May, it continues week after week.  We are committed to our cause and want to see every family affected by childhood brain injury receive the support they need when they need it.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to our campaign, especially Laurie, Melissa, Megan, Jamie, Conor, Leigh Day and to the team at JMW Solicitors.

Lisa Turan
Chief Executive Officer

Action for Brain Injury Week - Sunday

This is the last blog post in the series for Action for Brain Injury Week; we would like to thank everyone who has been following us throughout the week.

For our final post we hear from our trustee Andy Caudell and look at how we can continue to take action throughout the year.

 “Action for Brain Injury Week is a unique opportunity to turn the spotlight onto organisations such as the Child Brain Injury Trust who quietly and tirelessly work so hard to offer a true and lasting support to what is, in a sense, a silent disability, or challenge, for the affected child and family (It is not the case that children with an acquired Brain Injury always exhibit external signs of their challenges, which is in itself one of the many issues that needs to be overcome).”

The complexities of brain injury, as Andy highlights, is one of the main reasons why we need to continue to raise awareness and use Action for Brain Injury Week as an opportunity to inform people of the services available.

“I know only too well the disruption and emotional upheaval that comes from having to adjust to life with a child with a brain injury. The Child Brain Injury Trust is literally the friend and anchor that families need when faced with this and their work in helping those children and families navigate those daunting first steps to secure the future for that child and family are so important - I feel duty-bound, as a proud Trustee of this wonderful organisation, to do anything that I can that raises funds and highlight the very important role the Child Brain Injury Trust can play in easing the challenges ahead for those families we support.”

Andy will be completing the Blenheim Triathlon in June and his first Half Iron-man Distance Triathlon at the
Cotswold 113 Class event in August this year to raise money for the Child Brain Injury Trust.

If you would like show your support to Andy and the Child Brain Injury Trust you can visit his Just Giving page www.justgiving.com/andy-caudell.

Andy’s fundraising is an exciting way to take our actions from this week forward and continue to raise awareness in the future. Please spread the word and visit our website  for more information.

Thank you to Andy Caudell and thank you all for taking action!

Action for Brain Injury Week - Saturday

The weekend has arrived which must only mean one thing; skydivers! Today we focus on a member of our Legal Services Directory, Leigh Day and how they have taken to the skies to take action and raise money for the Child Brain Injury Trust.

Tomorrow 5 members of the law firm Leigh Day will bravely be undertaking a tandem skydive in aid of the Child Brain Injury Trust. Julien Gless, Ellen Parry, Abdelghani Bendjenni, Jonathan Chand and Marie Hobart will all be jumping from Swindon Airfield on Sunday 19th May. So far they have managed to raise £1770 for the charity.

Jonathan Chand one of the brave skydivers had this to say: “Although many would be terrified at the thought of jumping 10,000ft from a small plane, the thought of all the young children and their families who have to overcome the challenges of a brain injury every day gives me the motivation to be able to do this. The Child Brain Injury Trust do an excellent job to help assist and any money raised to aid their cause is well worth the knee trembling jump!”

We wish the team the best of luck tomorrow and look forward to seeing some photos.

Why Legal Action is so Important 

The Child Brain Injury Trust produces an annual Legal Services Directory because we understand that our families may need access to legal services following their child’s brain injury. Rather than instructing your local solicitor, the law firms featured in our directory are specialists in personal injury or clinical negligence claims and have experience of working on cases linked to children’s claims.

If you believe there may have been negligence or someone was at fault in relation to a child’s brain injury we urge you to take action and have a look through our Legal Services Directory.  There are many useful articles to help you navigate your way through the system.

Leigh Day feature as a member in our Legal Services Directory and we thank the team for showing their support during Action for Brain Injury Week.


f you would like support or more information, contact our helpline on 0303 303 2248 or helpline@cbituk.org.

If you'd like to get involved in taking Action or supporting our work, please email Emily Honey.

Action for Brain Injury Week - Friday

Today we have chosen to highlight the crucial work the Child Brain Injury Trust’s Northern Ireland team have been doing during Action for Brain Injury Week.

Our Northern Ireland office has joined forces during this week with other voluntary sector organisations who work with children, young people and adults with a brain injury and their carers. The group have produced a video to help people understand ‘there is life after brain injury’.

Teresa’s Story

Teresa with her son's Conor and Jamie

In 2005, the lives of mum Teresa McKee and her two young boys were to change forever.
The freak accident had been no-one’s fault– there was no speed, drink or drugs involved and the driver was only doing 25mph. Jamie had suffered from multiple injuries.

Both of his lungs had been punctured and there was evidence of brain damage. Hooked up to the life-support machine, the next few days played out in slow motion in the confines of the intensive care unit at the hospital, as Teresa watched for the rise and fall of Jamie’s little chest.

Whilst she waited for her son’s condition to improve, Teresa came across a poster for the Child Brain Injury Trust and she decided to contact the trust.

“The Child Brain Injury Trust was a lifeline. They set up counselling for both the boys. Jamie is different to how he was before the accident and both of them needed to understand that. They also helped me deal with his schooling because the accident means he needs educational support. Thanks to the Child Brain Injury Trust, Jamie was moved into a special unit in a mainstream school. If I hadn’t seen the poster that day, we’d have been left totally isolated. They have been alongside me every step of the way and are always at the end of the phone with practical and emotional support. I am so thankful for all they have done for us and I do what I can to give a little something back”.*

‘There is life after brain injury’

Today “Jamie has almost finished his first year at high school, although this change was a huge issue for Jamie at the time he has coped really well with the change. His self-confidence and independence are improving greatly, Jamie is very determined to succeed and not let his disability hold him back from anything. He continues to improve and still gets weekly physio and occupational therapy input, but has now started taking charge of his own therapies and doing his exercises daily at home.”

We would also like to congratulate Jamie’s brother Conor who recently won the ‘Young Carer of the Year’ award at the Credit Union Awards in Belfast.

Taking Action

Tomorrow Teresa and other supporters will be taking action and raising money for the Child Brain Injury Trust. They have chosen to abseil down one of Belfast’s tallest buildings, the Europa Hotel.

If you would like to show your support and help others text CBIT18 followed by the amount you would like to donate to 70070. Or if you happen to be in the area come and cheer everyone on.

Thank you to Teresa, Conor and Jamie McKee.

*Quote from article in the Big Lottery Fund magazine.

For more information on Action for Brain Injury Week, please contact Emily Honey.

Action for Brain Injury Week - Thursday

Today we will hear from Katie Wightman from Prestwich, Manchester to find out how the Child Brain Injury has helped her and how she is giving something back.

Katie’s Story

“Before Megan’s accident I had never actually heard of an Acquired Brain Injury to be honest.”

Megan before her accident in 2010

A few years ago Katie’s daughter Megan acquired a brain injury after suffering 5 bleeds to the brain following being hit by a car travelling at 41 mph. Katie found about the Child Brain Injury Trust when she was struggling with Megan at home and decided to get in touch with the charity.

As a charity we can help parents understand what has happened to their child and what this might mean for the future.

“When Fiona [Regional Child and Family Support Coordinator for the North West] was sent out to us we were given lots of information and I found things that I could never really understand before a lot clearer. It is good to be able to just pick up the phone and ask for advice or just have someone with an understanding to talk to.”

Taking Action

Since becoming involved in the charity Katie has held various fundraising events and has taken action to raise awareness of acquired brain injury and to fundraise for the Child Brain Injury Trust.

Katie is an actively involved supporter who has held collections, an Easter Bonnet parade, bake sales and pub quiz nights raising around £350 from the last one that took place recently.

Action for Brain Injury Week is focused on taking action during 13th-19th May this year; however, we would like to thank Katie for her continued support. She is also planning more activities throughout the year.

‘Hope for tomorrow – today’

Megan with her sisters Emily and Alice

 “I would feel lost if the Child Brain Injury Trust did not exist, I have learned to deal with things in a more positive way and it is also nice to know I am not alone, there are other people out there with the same if not more problems than myself but it is also good to know there are people like the Child Brain Injury Trust out there to help us through the good and the bad times.” 

If you take one action today, help us spread the word to get people to understand childhood acquired brain injury and know that the Child Brain Injury Trust is here to provide support.

Thank you to Katie for her fundraising and for sharing her story.

If you would like support or more information, contact our helpline on 0303 303 2248 or helpline@cbituk.org. 

If you'd like to get involved in taking Action or supporting our work, please email Emily Honey.

Action for Brain Injury Week - Wednesday

We have decided to do something different today; JMW Solicitors have kindly put together a video of how they have been taking action to raise awareness and fundraise for the charity.

You can watch the video on our YouTube channel here. Or read below for the transcript of the video.

JMW Manchester Marathon Team

“Hello my name is Gordon Cartwright; I’m a partner in the Personal Injury department at JMW. Foolishly, I agreed to do a zip slide in aid of the Child Brain Injury Trust, a fantastic charity but I cannot say it is something that I am particularly looking forward to, not over the moon about falling off the end of a building on a zip wire so the part that I am looking forward to most... is being un-clipped at the other end of the zip line.”

Gordon joined the rest of Team JMW who have been taking action for the Child Brain Injury Trust, doing everything from zip slides to marathons.

Action for their cause is important to us [JMW] let us tell you why...

An estimated 1 in 30 children and young people in Britain will sustain a brain injury.

The brain is not fully developed until you reach your mid-20s, so predicting a final outcome in the case of childhood brain injury is very hard.

“If you have a child who has a brain injury, that is something that is more than likely going to be with them for the rest of their lives, so as a charity I think it is as worthwhile as you get.”

JMW Solicitors has worked with many families affected by brain injury, and we see firsthand the heartache and pain it can cause. The Child Brain Injury Trust provides VITAL emotional support to families affected by brain injury during a very difficult time.

“I think it is important, that as Personal Injury lawyers we give something back to the clients that we represent.”

This is why Hannah Atkinson (Paralegal) was one of four from JMW who took action and ran the Manchester Marathon in 3hr 48!

“Naturally it is a fantastic cause; I think it deserves being thrust into the public eye and every bit of support that we can possibly raise for it, and every bit of awareness I think is well deserved because it really just gives the charity the opportunity to bring to the public attention how difficult it is for both the children and families on a day to day basis.”

When we take action for the Child Brain Injury Trust, we think about all the families who have been affected by brain injuries who we have encountered as lawyers.

Why is Action for Brain Injury Week important?

“It is an important issue, and I think that there are a lot of misconceptions out there about brain injuries and people perhaps don’t realise just what a massive impact it can have on people’s lives and to bring that more into the public eye is definitely very worthwhile.” 

JMW is a member of the Child Brain Injury Trust’s Legal Services Directory and we would like to thank them for their support.

If you would like support or more information, contact our helpline on 0303 303 2248 or helpline@cbituk.org.

If you'd like to get involved in taking Action or supporting our work, please email Emily Honey.