Woman left with brain injury after innocuous fall while out sledging

A woman has been left with a brain injury after falling on her head while out sledging with her family.

Anne Johnston from Forfar was diagnosed with postconcussion syndrome (PCS) five days after the accident after waking up to find her speech was slow and she was struggling with basic movements.

Sufferers of PCS, a mild form of traumatic brain injury, can continue for months or even a year after the concussion.

Ms Johnston said living with the condition “is like being robbed of part of my personality as well as constant fatigue, headaches and a body that won’t move at a normal speed”.

She said: “I was sledging in Arbroath with my family and fell backwards off a sled from standing up and landed on my head.

“I got up and walked up the hill, said I was fine and then about ten minutes later got so disorientated I didn’t know who I was, where I was, what day it was or what I was doing there.

“I wasn’t knocked out but don’t remember the accident or have much memory at all between the accident and hospital.

“I was kept in Ninewells for two nights and told I had a bad concussion, whiplash and a torn eardrum.”

She was sent home to rest for 48 hours, but five days after the accident she was rushed to out-of-hours care and diagnosed with PCS.

Ms Johnston is now unable to drive, has balance issues and has been given a supply of a food-replacement drink because she struggles to find the energy to cut up food and eat.

She said she feels like her senses are “overwhelmed” – she has extreme sensitivity to noise and smells are overpowering.

She also burned her neck with a heatpack as she could not feel that it was too hot.

Ms Johnston – initially signed off work until April – does not know when she will recover and she has been forced to put her photography business on hold and postpone photography tuition sessions until she recovers.

She said: “It is frustrating not being able to run my business right now, but I’ve had to accept that my body needs to rest and that if I go back to work too soon it could set back my recovery. I could have a fairly decent day and then the next day it feels like I’ve gone two steps backwards.

“I feel as though I’ve made significant improvements and hope to be back to work in April but for now I’m taking it one day at a time.”

For some people recovery can take weeks, for others it can be months, but sometimes they can persist for a year or more.