Around 10 years ago I suffered from a stroke. It was a Monday morning and I woke up with a real pain in my neck. That’s the last thing I remember before waking up 2 weeks later in the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. I didn’t have a clue who anyone was, didn’t even know who the wife and kids were. I had lost 40 years of my memory. It took me 3 months to recognise my family again. After my brain injury, I became more sensitive to noises. I can’t do things I used to enjoy like go to football games, listen to music and going to the pub. I used to enjoy painting a lot, and even sold some of my work but after the injury I couldn’t paint as well as I used to. I also lost many of my friends, which made me quite isolated and lonely. I couldn’t remember any of my life before the injury but was told I was a teacher. It was when I moved to Swindon that I discovered Headway.
I like coming to Headway because people here understand what I’m going through. The people I have met here have become close friends to me, and the staff here are lovely and have supported me and helped me make progress.
