When I was 17, I was in a car accident and suffered severe brain damage. The doctors told my parents I would never recover, which was heart-breaking for them and my wider family and friends. Fortunately, the brain is plastic, meaning that it can regrow. I am now fully recovered and teach psychology A-level. But getting here has been a long process.
I have very few memories from the first days and months — the accident damaged my hippocampus which is crucially involved in learning and memory. To aid my recovery I was asked to keep a diary — at the beginning it was just a record of what I had eaten each day (see Figure 1). The writing became more legible as the days passed. The diary helped stimulate my thinking and thus helped my recovery. It now provides a record to draw on for this article. I also have the neurological registrar’s report, which was written a year after I became an outpatient.
Your organisation does not have access to this article.
Sign up today to give your students the edge they need to achieve their best grades with subject expertise
Subscribe
