Helen

On 26 March 2021 I was on the first day of a holiday in Darwin with my boyfriend Gavin, 29-year-old son Joshua and his girlfriend Sindy.

We went out in the evening to a few pubs followed by dinner in a restaurant. At 9.30pm we all got on e-scooters to ride home, and as is the norm for tourists in Darwin, nobody wore a helmet.

For unknown reasons I fainted, tipped over sideways and hit my head on the side of the road. The accident caused my skull to crack and I began bleeding onto my brain. I was unconscious and a passer-by called an ambulance.

I was taken to Royal Darwin Hospital where a CT scan of my head revealed a bleed on my brain was causing pressure on my brain that would soon kill me. The neurosurgeons operated immediately, shaving my head before cutting a flap of skin and then a large chunk of bone out of my skull. The blood was drained off my brain and the skull bone replaced and held in place with three titanium plates and six titanium screws. Finally, my skin was replaced and sewed together with staples. I remained in a coma for 11 days, with a tracheotomy tube in my throat to help me breath and nasogastric tube in my nose to feed me.

When I awoke, I remembered nothing and my short-term memory was very poor. I was very confused and my brain did not work properly at all. I was also unable to eat, speak, stand or walk.

I stayed in the intensive care unit in Darwin for about three weeks before being moved to a ward. I don’t remember much about those days, but Gavin has photos and videos of me learning to walk, chew, swallow and talk again.

After a week I was flown by medi-jet back to WA and to RPH.I remember that trip - I felt terrible as I was really constipated and suffering from headaches, skull pain and dandruff.

I was miserable in RPH. My brain was just starting to work again and I finally realised what had happened to me. I felt really sad and frightened about the future ahead of me. I was always tired, sleeping and feeling

unwell. I wanted to go home. The COVID-19 outbreak in Perth meant I was unable to have any hospital visitors. I tried to escape one day to go home and I ended up with security on my door.

After a week I was sent via ambulance to FSH for recovery, which was a really positive, helpful, friendly and nice hospital. I started feeling better and could have visitors again.

My aunty Pam told me to read about neuroplasticity, which I did. I started to feel better, and more hopeful of a good future, and a good life ahead. I realised bad things can and do happen to everyone, but I had survived and had a life. I just had to be grateful and get on with it.

I did all my physiotherapy and occupational therapy, and although I wasn’t very good at anything I knew I would get better and better. After a week I was discharged to live at Gavin’s house. It was so nice to leave hospital and I finally got rid of my constipation and dandruff!

A week later I moved back home, alone again. I was so nervous, but it was really wonderful. After that I really started to get better and better. All my headaches stopped, and my painful skull started to really heal.After a few months I barely noticed it and the pain slowly got less and less until it didn’t bother me anymore.

I practiced using my brain, reading, doing IQ tests and puzzles. I watched TED talks and Turia Pitt was my inspiration. I walked every day and used light hand weights. I ate really healthy food and didn’t drink alcohol. Every single day I got better and better.

I attended FSH for 12 OT sessions. After that a private OT visited my house and she helped me to return to work. I am a police officer, so my goal was to get back to being fully operational and working fulltime. It took many months of slowly increasing light duties and short hours, but I got there.

It is now a year since my accident. I am full time on the road again and Gavin and I returned to Darwin for a proper holiday. I went back and met all the doctors and nurses and gave them chocolates and thankyou cards. They were pleased to see I had recovered full, and grateful I visited them. I also met the woman who phoned 000 for me and I hugged her and told her she saved my life.

Gavin and I enjoyed our holiday and made sure I wore a helmet when I rode the scooter. I fell off again and scraped my knee, but I felt really good, and like I needed to do it again, to really put it behind me. Gavin and I really enjoyed our holiday this time.