Reality of Brain Injury

<p>A respected medical professional, family man, and keen athlete, Andrew Tillyard had a full and active life until a vehicle crash changed it all. He sustained a serious head injury and was airlifted to the hospital where he worked, having only just survived. In this book, he recounts the raw, uncompromising struggles he faced to rebuild his life. </p><p>Drawing from regular blog entries written throughout his rehabilitation, Andrew provides an authentic reflection of the lived experience at some of the key stages along the road to recovery, from pragmatic concerns about new daily difficulties to wider concerns about his new place in life. He highlights the specific challenges and support he encountered as a person with a medical background who finds themselves in a healthcare system as a patient. With frank honesty, he takes readers beyond the simple message that things can and do improve, by demonstrating that negativity, bitterness, and occasional rage are all necessary parts of the journey. However, he also describes the many little victories that helped him keep battling on, knowing there is always hope for the future. In particular, he narrates how he learnt to do things the doctors said he would never do: walking, reading, running, and ultimately writing this book. With the perspective of ten years since his injury, the book also charts a longer-term view of the ebb and flow of recovery. </p><p>This is essential reading for neuropsychologists, neurologists, and other rehabilitation therapists, as well as students in medicine, nursing, allied health, and neuropsychology. This is also a compelling and compassionate story for anyone who has survived a brain injury, who feels – as Andrew did at times – that life might not be worth living anymore, as it can show that there is always hope for the future.</p> <p>Introduction</p><ol> <p> </p> <li>How I Acquired My Brain Injury: The Triathlon</li> <p> </p> <li>How I Coped Dealing with Carers: Living Life with the Scarers</li> <p> </p> <li>How I Started to Find Inspiration After My Brain Injury: The Pathetic Limping Tillyard Charity</li> <p> </p> <li>How My Marriage Fell Apart After My Accident, And How I Came to Terms with It: Bricks in the Wall</li> <p> </p> <li>How Hard Work Helped My Mental Recovery Process: Life v2.0</li> <p> </p> <li>How I Learned to Live A Life of Compromise After Brain Injury: Life in Falifornia!</li> <p> </p> <li>How Trauma Makes Us Reinvent Ourselves: Surviving Death by a Thousand Cuts</li> <p> </p> <li>How I Proved That Almost Anything Is Possible After Brain Injury: Advantage Tillyard!</li> <p> </p> <li>How to Go on Living A Life of Value After Trauma: It Takes a Village</li> <p> </p> <li>How to Find True Love and Happiness After Brain Injury?: The Rule of Thirds</li> <p> </p> <li>How I Learned to Keep Striving for Every Physical and Cognitive Improvement: A Lifetime Later</li> </ol><p><em>Afterword - A happy ending?</em></p><p><em>Poems by Andrew Tillyard</em></p><p><em>Index</em></p>