Got a brain injury ... want to talk?
Group looks to unite brain injury sufferers
Got a brain injury, more specifically, a concussion? Dewi Bone wants to talk to you. She suffered a severe concussion in 2013, due to a fall from her horse, and is looking to unite others who have gone through this and suffered the consequences.
“I do not want to start a group drinking coffee and just sitting around the table talking about how bad life is. I am looking for an interactive approach where people can help each other improve.”
For her it is about ways to get better and move into a more active life, despite the debilitating injury.
She envisions hosting speakers on important topics like nutrition, memory loss, or concentration issues.
“Anything members of the group are interested in, and we’ll find a way to facilitate what they need.”
She has tried to get support over the years and hasn’t found much that was enticing, so she wants to start her own Levin-based group. She has trained in many natural health therapies in a search for ways to improve her own life, so she would bring insights to the group.
“You know, the state of your brain affects your gut. There are certain foods that improve your situation and speed up any recovery. I have met people who were severely affected but found a way to have a full life, eventually. If your brain is damaged, you need to find a way to make new neural connections.”
Concussion affects different parts of the brain, but the right treatment
like nutrition and cranial work can help, she said.
“Brain injuries can affect your concentration, your memory, speech. On the inside you look normal, but inside you are far from this. It changes your life a lot. Some undergo personality changes, which can make retaining relationships tough.”
She said her life was a mess for years.
“I lost my business importing saddles for horses. I could not make sense of the world and kept forgetting things. On top of that I eventually suffered burnout.”
She said several brain injuries over a lifetime add up, and she speaks from personal experience.
“I had a few knocks to the head apart from the fall from the horse. As a child I fell out of rickshaw and hurt my head. Brain injuries are accumulative.”
She said the fall from her horse resulted in an ambulance rush into hospital at 5pm.
“By 11pm they sent me home, saying as far as they were concerned, I was okay. I had to beg for access to a phone to ring someone to come and get me. I had nothing on me of course, no phone, no wallet.
“How was I to get home from Wellington Hospital at that time of night? The trip out of Wellington is long at any time of the day anyway.”
Luckily, she managed to contact a friend, who was able to come and collect her.
She’s met others who had brain injuries.
“Their stories are heartbreaking.” She is hoping the group she wants to gather will participate in art workshops, listen to various speakers on their issues, do goal mapping, yoga or meditation, and participate in other activities.
“It will be an active place where they can help others in similar situations.”
She said she has been gathering resources on all sorts of related topics that she can share with group members. She already has lined up a few participants.
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The first meeting was held this week in a local cafe. If you want to know more: phone Dewi Bone, 022 6343638.