"He has his voice again"

Following an motorcross accident late September 2024 our son was airlifted to RVH with broken left femur and right fractured ankle. A few hours after admission he acquired a brain injury from a intracerebral Fat Embolism. This led to him becoming totally unresponsive and being moved to ICU before his fracture surgery took place. This was a very stressful and difficult experience for us as a family. After two weeks and still unresponsive our son was transferred to AAH where he spent two months in A6 Stroke ward before being admitted to RABIU mid December 2024.

Our son led a very active lifestyle before his accident, cycling, running, cross country and completing the Belfast marathon and the Newcastle half marathon. He loved his road bike and also enjoyed motorcross, and he drove a HGV for work.

He left RVH with a tracheostomy and temporary nasogastric tube for fluids and feeding, no speech, he had to be hoisted by 4 from bed for physio etc which was limited until he got a gastrostomy tube early November 2024. We were not given much hope for any change.

Speech therapy began late November with his speech therapist talking to him and showing him a spoon, which he attempted to lift but wasn’t sure what to do with it. He was further encouraged and with help to open his mouth, he allowed spoon in and swallowed the smallest amount of ice cream. He did well and it felt good. . He was then encouraged with his favourite drink and managed to swallow some small spoonfuls thickened. Further therapy had him swallowing custard and yogurt and then he was upgraded to level four foods having his first purée dinner. Cottage pie, peas and thickened milk through straw. This was wonderful for us to see and special as we got to feed him. No speech as yet.

Then came December and he was transferred to RABIU for rehabilitation and we got introduced to his new speech therapist Tracie who was lovely and so welcoming. Our son just smiled. Within a week Tracie had him eating unlimited amounts of purée food and now drinking from cup with no added thickener. Amazing for us as a family to see these improvements and for our son a little bit of normalcy. Still no speech but Tracie had been encouraging him to make sounds and just after Christmas he said his first word. I had been looking through a photo album with him and saying his friends name I asked who was the boy beside him. To my delight he said “me” and it was him. I thought it may have been a one off but he was able to say hello to his sister on the phone and later wish us a happy new year and it was the beginning of a more positive and very happy new year. He had his voice again.

Tracie has brought our son on leaps and bounds, with her therapy sessions, bringing him up level after level in his swallowing and cognitive abilities. He was able to have his gastrostomy tube removed mid February as he celebrated getting to level 7 food the day before on his birthday.

His speech though not as before is certainly improving and he can ask questions, choose a dinner, tell us how he’s feeling and this is great for his own confidence.

I had no idea the work involved within the role of speech therapy, I thought it was for sounding out words properly and it is this but so much more. It learns you to swallow and eat safely, to bring back memories, to find the words we need for tasks, to encourage our thinking and understanding of situations and how to navigate around any problems we might face. All in all it is a service which is as vital to our wellbeing as any other therapy. I recognise the importance of this therapy in the life of my son and am ever so grateful for the input Tracie put into bringing him forward with his speech and understanding.

Our son was discharged from RABIU early May 2025 and he will continue his speech therapy in the community. Although we haven’t begun this service yet, I am in no doubt it will continue to encourage our son in speech and communication as he encounters a life changed by his accident but I praise God for his faithfulness in answered prayer for our son to return home safely.

Thanks to the NHS and all the treatments our son has received. Your work is invaluable to patients like him who benefit greatly from your skill, commitment and compassion to give them a better way of life and a voice to say thank you.

We appreciate you and all your dedication Tracie. God Bless.