‘Our life is like a rollercoaster ride’

In 2005, Kasia's husband, Martin, sustained a serious brain injury after falling 15ft in an accident at home. Today, six years on, Martin has made a good recovery and the couple remain happily married with two young children. Life remains a challenge, but one they are facing as a family.

"I found Martin at the bottom of the outside stairs, late one night on my return home from work," said Kasia. "He was semi conscious and bleeding from the head. I called an ambulance and once at the hospital the doctors scanned and then operated on his brain almost immediately. They stemmed a haemorrhage and put him in the Intensive Care Unit, under sedation. Nobody could be sure of the outcome of the operation until he was awake.

"Now, six years later, we consider ourselves very lucky. After years of many challenging times, Martin is walking, talking, working, loving and living his life."

Kasia continues: "I could probably attempt to write a very long report of the many stages of recovery. There are so many that we have gone through, from Martin's poor physical state in the early months following the accident and his failed attempts to return to his work as a chef shortly after, to the present situations in our daily life that consistently present difficulties.

"Between myself and Martin there have been many feelings of rejection, being shut out, lack of affection and misunderstanding all normally leading to conflict with many long periods of intense bad moods and distress. Martin's tolerance level is very low and he can get very moody at times. Drink has a very dark effect on him since his brain injury, which he has only recently managed to get his head around. Fortunately, he no longer drinks. He gets anxious and stressed very quickly and he still suffers 'episodes' - a kind of sheer panic. But these are gradually less and less frequent.

"Martin's brain injury will stay with us always. I am paranoid that the worst will happen in any situation and I worry so much about accidents. I suffer anxiety, panic attacks and depression frequently.

"But beyond all this I truly believe that our marriage and our bond to one another are stronger than ever and after every deep downwards curve there comes a greater 'up'. I feel like we are living and surviving a massive rollercoaster ride, which is gradually getting gentler as the years go by.

"We are both very different and stronger people than before. We value and appreciate life and we are very aware of our mortality. I am not the invincible character that I thought I was before. Accidents and incidents do happen and they can happen to anyone at any time. I can only be eternally grateful that Martin is alive, we are still united and have two beautiful children together."