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Pete Bourne

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Pete Bourne

Pete Bourne

The fatigue can be relentless

In July 2015 Pete Bourne, 58, collapsed at his home in Droitwich, Worcestershire and was diagnosed with a subarachnoid hemorrhage.

Almost four years on Pete still struggles with the effects of his brain injury, in particular fatigue.

He said: “I am much better than I was, but for the first few years fatigue overwhelmed me. I learnt to take things steady and not do too much. Even now if I do too much the fatigue kicks in.

“I find the fatigue can be relentless and leads to feelings of confusion when I’m overly tired.”

Our Brain Drain - Wake up to fatigue! survey found that three in four brain injury survivors feel that other people do not understand their fatigue.

Pete is no different and says his friends and family find it hard to understand the nature of his fatigue.

“It is very difficult to describe how debilitating it can be”, he says.

In an effort to understand his fatigue during his recovery, and help others understand it too, Pete wrote a poem describing the negative effects it was having on him.

Weakened mind, thoughts hard to make

Of shallowed breath so hard to take

Hollow thoughts make no sense

Hollow limbs bereft of strength

 

Too weak to speak, too weak to cry

Every breath with softened sigh

Sitting still, no mood no being

Sad and lifeless eyes not seeing

 

The fires gone out, you sit in ashes

Of yesteryears and running dashes

Energy spent, you crumble and gaze

Through jumbled vision, through dreary haze

 

Heavy chest, the air seems thin

Almost too much to take it all in

A distant thought of some life you could borrow

To dance and to sing, give it back on the morrow

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Fatigue

For many people after brain injury, fatigue may feel like overwhelming tiredness, which makes them unable to complete normal activities of daily living.

Find out more
 

Brain Drain: Wake up to fatigue!

Through our Brain Drain campaign, we aim to give a voice to those affected, helping to raise awareness and break the stigma of brain injury-related fatigue.

Find out more
 

Brain injury study finds chronic fatigue widely misunderstood

Find out more
 
 

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