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At the centre of everything we do in CBIT are the families we support. Often at times of great crisis and tragedy, these families allow CBIT into their lives and we do all we can to support them and make sure they can avail of local services that best suit them. Families are about children and young people with acquired brain injuries, mums, dads and other carers, grandparents, siblings and friends.

We’d like you to meet two of the families that CBIT has supported in Northern Ireland:

Family #1:

Hi, my name is Elizabeth. My daughter Britney got a brain injury when a golf club hit the front of her head in September 2005.She was taken to the Mater hospital in Belfast and examined by 2 different doctors. One doctor wanted to stitch Britney's head up and send her home, the other doctor wanted to do an x-ray. After the x-ray was done it showed that Britney had an impound fracture on her skull.
Britney was transferred to the Royal hospital for sick children and had an operation in which 2 metal plates were inserted in the front of her head. After 3 days Britney was discharged, I was told Britney would be fine after 3 months and that she would be able to do all the things that she could have done before the accident .We left the hospital with no information about support or any of our questions answered.

After 3 months I had no appointment with the hospital I kept going to my doctors and telling them Britney is not the same child. My doctor tried to reassure me that this was normal after a head injury. I remember telling my doctor that the hospital had told me Britney would be fine after 3 months but by now she was taking a lot of medicine for headaches and doing things she would never have done.

It was very hard on my family watching it fall apart and nothing I could do would stop it. My son felt left out. I told this to my doctor and she told me to go home and look up the Internet to see if I could find anything. I emailed a couple of places but they were for adults and teenagers my daughter was only 6 at the time. Eventually I found out about CBIT. I emailed them and straight away a got a response they helped us a lot. Now I know Britney may never be the same child but with the help from CBIT my family have learned to deal with it. Karen from CBIT was great - she phoned and called all the time and has helped a lot. With her help my daughter is now undergoing tests as she is having some problems with remembering and sleeping. They also have taught me that life after a brain injury may be different but can be better. Thanks CBIT and thanks Karen .

Elizabeth McDowell
Belfast

Britney and her new friend Rebecca at a CBIT funday

Family #2:

Hi my name is Jo Irvine and on the 8th June 2006 my son Shaun was knocked down by a motorbike outside my front door. Shaun was rushed to Belfast Royal Hospital Victoria Hospital for sick children. Shaun was extremely ill and was admitted to the intensive care unit for 6 days and than transferred to the neurological ward and eventually discharged home. Due to the nature of the accident and the injuries he received, Shaun was referred to a Psychologist. It was through here that I received the information about CBIT. Although I must admit I could have heard about it while in the ICU or Paul ward but the information did not stick in my brain. Karen came out an introduced herself to me and we hit it off. But I still didn’t feel that I could tell anyone just how hard things were with Shaun and his behaviour. I just assumed I was a bad mum. It was when Karen invited me to a CBIT family day that I learnt it was nothing to do with me and my mothering skills but from the head injury Shaun had received. With the help of Catherine and Karen, Shaun and his dad Shaun Senior and I are starting to attempt to come to terms with what happened and now we have the support to help us deal with it all. But for me the main thing that CBIT has done is help me meet other families that have been through and are going though the same thing to share experiences and tips on how to deal with Shaun. If it had not been for Karen I don’t think I would have got through the last year dealing with all the tears, and all the ups and downs and sometimes it felt like as if there were only downs…

Joanne Irvine,
Belfast

Thanks to Jo and Elizabeth for sharing their stories. We know this will help other families to contact CBIT.

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