Eight years ago, Gretta Manners had a full time career in teaching and was a busy (and exhausted) mother of three young children; Hazel, 4, Maria, 2 and Tadhg, 6 months.

She began to feel unwell and eventually went to the Emergency Dept of her local hospital to find out what was wrong with her. It would be almost a year before Gretta got home again. What followed was months in hospital due to a rapid onset brain injury of unknown cause. Gretta lost her ability to talk, to walk, to determine the difference between her conscious and sleeping mind.

She was plagued with a ‘ticker tape’ of nightmares and felt like she had ‘gone mad’. An encounter with a trial drug, along with a dedicated consultant (Prof. Tubridy), meant that Gretta’s deteriorating condition was thankfully stopped in its tracks and she would be able to start to slowly rebuild the broken brain connections, needing to learn to walk and talk all over again.

The dedication of her family who didn’t leave her side during all of those institutionalised months and a consultant who really cared, meant that Gretta was given the best possible chance at life again, against all the odds.

Whilst Gretta defied many of the medical opinions in that she learnt to walk again, manages to run a couple of laps of the running track, can walk and drive and do day to day activities, she did not make a full recovery. Her balance remains a challenge and she often has difficulty with her short-term memory. She gets easily overwhelmed by a lot of conversation and sometimes it’s just too difficult for her to process what is going on in a busy room.

In this conversation, we hope to highlight the losses that can be associated with acquired brain injury and hopefully make people more aware of this invisible condition that is often accompanied by invisible struggle. What comes across utmost in this conversation is how compassionate medical care and a dedicated circle of family and friends can really make a difference to a person’s outcome.

Acquired Brain Injury Ireland are available to provide support to individuals and families affected by Acquired Brain Injury.