‘I didn’t know who I was, I’m very lucky to be alive’
TO celebrate completing his GCSE exams, Alex Hughes was treated to a holiday in Majorca with his friends and family.
But what was meant to be a dream trip turned into a nightmare when the teenager was attacked with a glass bottle on his way home from a nightclub.
The impact of the blow caused Alex to suffer devastating and life-changing head injuries from which he will never fully recover.
“We were walking back from the club and a car pulled up, these boys jumped out and I got bottled,” said Alex, now 26, who has no memory of the events that unfolded in the summer of 2009.
“Apparently we were flirting with some girls and they got jealous.”
Alex, from Radyr, was put in a medically induced coma for two months.
He said because his skull didn’t crack there was a huge amount of pressure building up in his swollen brain which had nowhere to escape.
A craniotomy was carried out in a
Spanish hospital to remove part of the skull and relieve the pressure. The operation resulted in Alex remaining in intensive care for several weeks.
“I was flown in a private jet back to Cardiff, but sadly I wasn’t awake to remember any of it,” he joked.
When he returned to Wales he stayed in intensive care at the University
Hospital of Wales in Cardiff.
“I had to learn to walk, talk, eat and even breathe again, It was like being reborn,” he said. “I didn’t know who I was. I’m very lucky to be alive.”
Astonishingly, only 12 months earlier his little sister also suffered a brain injury while performing as a cheerleader.
“She was at the top of the pyramid. There were no mats on the floor and she fell. But luckily for her, her skull cracked,” said Alex.
“So in 2008 it was her incident, then it was mine in 2009 and then in 2010 my dad passed away, so it was a really rough time for my family.”
Alex, who had dreams of becoming a lawyer, admitted he initially struggled to come to terms with what had happened to him.
“It was a nightmare. I think I was in a state of denial for the first five or six months,” he added. “I was stick thin [before the attack took place] but I just ate and ate and ate.”
But after working with specialists at Rookwood Hospital, Llandaff, as well as brain injury charities Headway and The Silverlining, he started making progress.
He is now able to walk and talk but still has some physical limitations.
“I’ve suffered a weakness in my left side, and I’ve had so many operations I’ve lost count,” he said. “But I’m proud of how far I have come.”
Alex is now taking part in Silver Sketcher art workshops at Insole Court, Llandaff, which are run by Beth Morris and funded by The Silverlining.
His work has been put on show at a special exhibition at Hearth Gallery at University Hospital Llandough which runs until 8pm on Thursday, November 28.
“It was like a light at the end of the tunnel. I’ve made so many friends [in the workshops],” he added. “Some of the art we produce is incredible, and I was really chuffed to find out one of mine had been sold.”
Alex said the man who bottled him was an illegal immigrant and was given a community order by a Spanish judge.
To find out more about Cardiff and Vale University Health Board’s Arts in Health exhibitions either look for @ artsforhealthandwellbeing on Instagram, go to www.cardiffandvale.art or email molly.lewis3@wales.nhs.uk.
For more information about the workshops email info@bethmorrisworkshops.co.uk or go to Beth Morris’ Facebook page.