A woman had to re-learn how to walk after suffering from a sudden brain injury which left her in a coma. In November 2010, Barbara Thomas was getting ready to go for a shopping trip with her daughter before she fell to the floor without any warning.
Barbara was rushed to hospital where they discovered that she had a subarachnoid haemorrhage - an uncommon type of stroke caused by bleeding on the surface of the brain - and spent months in a coma.
The 67-year-old from Cymmer, said: “My daughter was coming up to take me shopping and I went into the bathroom to get ready and I shouted ‘my head’. I fell to the floor with the toothbrush still in my mouth.
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“I have no memory of what happened after that. I’m told I was initially taken to the Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend in an ambulance. CT scans showed I had a bleed on the brain. I was then transferred to UHW where staff were waiting for me and operated on me as soon as I arrived.”
Barbara underwent surgery where she had a shunt put into her brain and a hole drilled into her skull to release some of the pressure. She was then transferred to the intensive care unit, while in a coma. After some setbacks, she was then transferred from the University Hospital of Wales to the neuro-rehabilitation unit at Neath Port Talbot Hospital.
She added: “The operation saved my life and I’ll always be very grateful to the staff. I spent three months in hospital in Cardiff and then between the February and July I was in Neath Port Talbot Hospital, under the care of Dr Javaid who I now call a dear friend. I spent around five or six months in a coma during that time.”
After waking up from her coma, Barbara could not remember how to walk or people who were around her. She said: “There were people next to me in the bed and I didn’t know who they were.
“I had to learn everything again – how to talk, how to walk and how to eat. I would have to see a psychologist when I was in hospital, he would show me pictures of a dog and I would say it was a cat, for instance.
“I would think to myself ‘I’ll remember that for tomorrow’ but then it would still be the same the next day. It went on for a long time.”
After several months in hospital, Barbara returned to her husband Des in their newly adapted home. However, she still had to receive daily rehabilitation to help her to walk, talk and eat again, and also remember skills such as cooking and baking.
Barbara said: “I owe everything to the hospital staff as they have done it all. The staff have pointed me in the right direction. I was in my wheelchair and within months I was out of it and taking part in the recreation.
“In the day care they did things like cooking lessons and I would be making pasties and baking cakes. Members of staff would tell us what was in the news and would ask us lots of questions to get everyone’s brains thinking. It was really good.” Barbara still has regular physiotherapy sessions to help with her mobility.
Barbara has conquered the ability to walk again - with the help of walking aids - and completed another goal on her list to thank the staff who have cared for her over the years. She recently walked the length of Aberavon seafront, raising £3,343 for the neuro-rehabilitation unit.
She was supported by a huge crowd of family, friends and staff members from the unit and hospital while she walked along the three-mile stretch. As well as the money raised through her Just Giving Page, Barbara also had a huge amount of support from local businesses with collection boxes in supermarkets and pharmacies and donations from hairdressers and Gilgal Church in Cymmer.
Barbara said: “I have come to a stage in my life where I want to give something back for the wonderful care I have had and continue to have from the neuro-rehabilitation ward. I just can’t thank all of the staff enough and that’s why I wanted to do the challenge.
“They deserve everything. They took great care of me – every single nurse and even the cleaners and food team. They are angels and they were all wonderful to me.” The money raised will go towards creating a special area for patients and staff at the neuro-rehabilitation unit.
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