A Clifton woman is calling for the support of the local community to help save the service that is a lifeline to both her daughter and husband who have profound disabilities resulting from brain injuries.
Jo Samples, 50, from Clifton is a carer for both her daughter and husband and has been supported by Headway Nottingham since discovering their rehabilitation centre five years ago. Despite being relied upon as the only long-term brain injury specific day centre serving all of Nottingham’s city and county, the service is now at risk as it faces a ‘perfect storm’ of funding cuts and reduced fundraising income over the last year.
Jo explains “Headway Nottingham is a lifeline for us. Brain injury can be so different to other forms of disability and the team at Headway are the only people who truly understand the difficulties we face.”
Jo cares for her adopted daughter, Kim, having fostered her as a baby. Kim had been removed from her mother’s care after she was shaken badly by her arm and leg, resulting in two detached retinas and a significant brain injury. Despite the prognosis, with Jo’s determination and exceptional care at Nottingham’s Queens Medical Centre, Kim walked at four years old and could speak. Now 22 years old, Kim is assessed to have the “capacity of an 8 or 9-year-old girl”.
Jo continues “Kim is very vulnerable, we need Headway Nottingham because they understand her vulnerability and the hidden disabilities she struggles with. Before we found Headway, she attended a setting that didn’t fully understand her needs.
“For the first time in her life Kim has a place where she needs and wants to be – Headway Nottingham. I try to make life as easy and happy for Kim as I can, but I need help to do that and that’s where Headway Nottingham comes in.”
Unthinkably, when Kim was just 12 years old, her father had a serious accident at work resulting in him too sustaining a significant brain injury. Jo explains “Darren was knocked unconscious and was concussed. After a short time off he tried to return to work but quickly found that he couldn’t cope. One morning he woke up and couldn’t remember who me or my son were. In the weeks that followed he was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue, chronic everything. His memory was terrible, he couldn’t retain any information and he began to suffer with PTSD symptoms after the trauma of the accident.
“Headway Nottingham teaches us, and everyone they support, that there is a life after this. Although caring is a difficult job, my love and respect for them both, and all they have overcome, motivates me to keep going”.
“It breaks my heart that we might lose the lifeline that it took us so long to find. Headway Nottingham is an essential service and has brought sunshine and laughter back into our lives. Brain injury is indiscriminate, no one in Nottingham knows when they might need Headway, so I’d urge everyone to support them through this difficult period.”
Headway Nottingham’s Services Manager, Charlotte Leask explained, “Many small charities like ours are finding the quickly shifting fundraising landscape difficult to keep up with. We have a target of £53,000, if we raise these funds, we are confident that we will not have to drastically reduce or lose our service.
Today in the UK someone is admitted to hospital with an acquired brain injury every 90 seconds. We will fight to keep hold of our invaluable service.”
You can donate to the Headway Lifeline Appeal at www.headwaynott ingham.org.uk/headwaylifeline