See the Hidden Me: Annette's story

I feel my brain is like a start-stop button on a car

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As part of Headway's See the Hidden Me campaign, Annette shares her experience of living with the hidden effects of brain injury.

“I feel like my brain is like a start and stop button on a car, which breaks down for a few minutes and then takes longer to get going than it should.

“By the time it gets itself together, if I’ve been in the middle of a conversation and forgotten what I wanted to say, you and I are no longer together. We’ve moved on with our lives, or at least you have… then suddenly my brain re-engages, and I remember what I wanted to say. But it’s too late, as you’re no longer there.

It makes me feel frustrated.

“At the beginning of my recovery, I couldn’t walk or talk and needed constant help. But those obvious signs of disability are no longer there. Now, I am slower than I used to be, and my thinking processes have slowed down, but then when I try to say that to people who have never had a brain injury, they say ‘the same thing happens to me’ and I say ‘oh really, when was your brain operation?’ and we laugh… but it’s true.”

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See the hidden me

'See the hidden me' raises awareness and understanding of the often misunderstood symptoms of a brain injury, and work to alleviate the challenges, and frustrations, survivors face.

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New research shows more than three quarters of brain injury survivors struggle every day d...

See the Hidden Me study finds that 76% of brain injury survivors experience problems on a daily basis because of the hidden, and often misunderstood nature of brain injury.

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