In February 2002, 19-year-old Liam’s life changed forever. He was working as an apprentice electrician on a building site when flat-packed furniture fell from height in high winds and crushed him.
Liam had to be resuscitated twice before paramedics could move him to Addenbrookes Hospital. He sustained skull and facial fractures, cracked ribs and a traumatic brain injury.
Scoring the lowest level of consciousness on the Glasgow Coma Scale, he needed emergency surgery. Surgeons removed part of his skull to relieve the pressure in his head due to a bleed on the brain and placed him in an induced coma.
Post-traumatic amnesia means Liam doesn’t remember what happened to him.
“There was a period of time after the injury where I had to get myself ready to accept that I might never be independent again.” Liam
Rehabilitation
The complexity of Liam’s injuries required a number of stakeholders to work together efficiently to offer him the best possible rehabilitation [Accident At Work Claims Solicitors – No Win No Fee | Irwin Mitchell]. Once liability was admitted in his legal case, interim payments were secured, giving him access to the support he needed.
Liam says, “It was hard for me to accept I needed something, but I put my pride to the side, which is hard for a 19/20-year-old to do.”
Julie Jay, who worked for Unite Professionals at the time, was appointed as Liam’s case manager. She conducted an all-encompassing needs assessment to understand how Liam’s injuries affected his daily living.
Julie says, “Setting goals is really important. Liam and I talked about what he wanted to achieve, and that guided us through his rehab process.” Julie made sure the different therapists were aligned with Liam’s goals, monitoring and tweaking his programme to ensure that the package she’d advocated for was effective.
As Liam started to make progress, he needed a new, bigger goal. He was working hard with his personal trainer and physiotherapist, as well as improving his physical fitness and endurance in his own time, so his personal trainer suggested running a 5K. Liam said, “I thought I could push to that already, so I suggested 10K.”
To give him additional motivation, Liam decided to raise money for the brain injury charity, Headway. With support from family and friends, Liam reached the finish line, smashing his rehabilitation goals and raising over £7,000. Liam was later invited to share his story at a Headway hard hat awareness event.
He says, “My PT helped me through, and we did it together. For me the benefits of running aren’t really the physical benefits. The most surprising thing for me was how much I benefited mentally.”
Feature quote: “It doesn’t matter how far you go, just get up and do it. You’re just building blocks of resilience, which I needed the whole time.”
“Now the claim has settled successfully, Liam feels he can move on. Irwin Mitchell will always be there for Liam and for everything he needs in the future. We’re friends for life now. I feel incredibly proud of Liam and how we’ve been able to use the legal claim to get the results he needed.”
Sarah Griggs - Serious Injury Solicitor in London
Headway – the brain injury association
Headway is the UK-wide brain injury charity and we’re proud to partner with them. Its goal is to improve life after brain injury by providing vital support and information services to people who need it. The charity also lobbies for better support and resources to be made available to those affected by brain injury and works to raise awareness of the devastating effects it can have.
Liam has found Headway’s social media activity to be very useful in helping him put his own experiences into words. If he sees a post that resonates with him, he says, “I can send it to whoever I need to, and it explains everything. It can be difficult to put into words what I deal with on a daily basis, so it really helps me.”<
How to contact Headway:
Headway operates a freephone helpline: 0808 800 2244 and more information about the charity can be found on the website: headway.org.uk.
Five ways you can turn a bad day into a good day
Life as a brain-injury survivor is full of ups and downs. Bad days happen, and when they do there are some things you can do to lift your spirits.
We asked Julie Jay to share her top five tips for turning a good day into a bad day:
- Remember your strategies – The cornerstone of any rehab programme is developing personalised strategies to enable you to maximise your independence. If you’re having a bad day, go back to what your personal strategies are.
- Lean on your community – Rehabilitation and recovery should never be done in isolation. Especially when you’re having a bad day, look to those closest around you and lean on them for support.
- Change of scenery – If you’re having a really bad day, often just changing where you are can make the world of difference.
- Pace yourself – Unfortunately fatigue is really common after brain injury. Feeling tired can make a bad day feel worse, so make sure you always listen to your body and learn to take things easy.
Do something you enjoy – Remember life is short, get out and do something that makes you feel happy.
When asked the same question, Liam said, “I can never really turn a bad day into a good day, but there’s ways of turning a bad day into a better day. Just by being strict with a routine, I try and get up early at 7 o’ clock every morning and then just try and get something done for that day. It doesn’t have to be a big thing. It could just be cleaning something, making a meal, just get something ticked off the ‘to do’ list for that day and you’ll feel better about yourself.”
A last word from Liam
Reflecting on how far he’s come, Liam says, “If I was talking to myself a couple of years ago, I’d say it all seems like a lot of words now and empty visions. But if you really buy into it and give it your all, you’ll get more out of it than you can ever imagine.
Edition 5 - Summer 2025
For general enquiries
0808 291 3524
Or we can call you back at a time of your choice
Phone lines are open 24/7, 365 days a year
