Sally-Ann Mowbray

A daughter’s brain injury survival story: A mother’s perspective

A mum-of-four has turned her family’s journey with brain injury into a book of hope for survivors.

Sally-Ann Mowbray, from Bothenhampton in Dorset, has written Ants in my Brain, an account documenting her daughter Rosie’s brain injury and recovery journey, after she was knocked down in 2014 while out on an early-morning run, aged 24.

Rosie, now 35, sustained multiple head injuries, a fractured shoulder blade and pelvis, a broken leg, displaced ankle and was unable to speak for several weeks.
She spent nearly six weeks on the ICU and had to learn how to walk again.

Recalling the ‘early days’ of recovery, Sally-Ann said: “We didn't quite know whether Rosie was going to survive.
“She had to learn to do everything again- walk, talk, eat.

“There was also a long period of post-traumatic amnesia which threw up all sorts of different challenges.

“She struggled with her memory. New information took a very long time to process and retain.”

Rosie's family turned to Headway for support to help them understand brain injury and the recovery process, as well as find a solicitor to help them with the court case of the collision, which was only settled last year in 2024.

“We got in touch with Headway very early on”, Sally-Ann said.

“The tools on the website are fantastic for us as a family. To be able to access all that information was great, to help us understand brain injury, the effects and the longevity of recovery.

“And also processing your own emotions and the acceptance of it.

“Through Headway, we also found a firm of solicitors that eventually brought her case to a conclusion, which was great.”

Sally-Ann was keen to put pen to paper to capture Rosie’s journey to share with her in the years that followed, as well as detail her own experience, from a mother’s perspective, to encourage loved ones who also go through the recovery journey alongside survivors.

Her diary entries written by Rosie’s bedside helped form Ants in my Brain, which is self-published with the help of Grosvenor House Publishing, and incorporates heartfelt passages from mother to daughter at different stages of recovery.

She said: “Rosie’s got her own story, and I'm very conscious of that.

“But I felt that if she did come through it, she'd want to know what had happened.

“I've used an ant analogy within the book, about how when ants are picking something up, they’re going all over the place- they move back, they go somewhere else.

“And this replicated neuroplasticity and how our brains can recover. Neuro pathways work around the damage, and they find a different way of connecting and repairing.

“The damage will never be repaired, but how it works around the damage is quite amazing.

“The book has hints and tips that helped me throughout, as well as lots of funny bits in it as well, it's not all doom and gloom. You need to have a bit of humour to try and get through.”

“But I think as people have seen the journey- and hopefully will read the journey- they will realise that there's a person underneath a brain injury.

“Hopefully it can help people in similar situations, and how to get through.”

You can purchase Ants in my Brain here.