Today, Lucy shares her inspiring story of recovery after a brain injury. At 28, she reflects on her accident, the challenges she faced, and how brain injury support played a crucial role in her healing.
Lucy was a participant in our Living with Brain Injury course, which ended in Reading in November 2024. Through her journey, she demonstrates the importance of understanding her new life, adapting to it, and how powerful it is to go through it with others on similar paths.
Life before the brain injury and the sudden accident
My name is Lucy, I’m 28 now and was 25 when I had my brain injury. I had a pretty ‘normal’ life – I had a ‘good’ job as a data analyst and I played lots of sports. I have a horse so that took up most of my free time and I rode competitively. I went out with my friends and I spent a lot of time with my family outside of work. I was constantly busy and liked living my life that way.
My brain injury was a freak accident horse riding – I can’t remember any of it but apparently, I was riding my horse when she got spooked and knocked me out. As far as I know, she reared up and threw her head back, hitting my head. Then I fell off and hit my head on the floor. Immediately, everyone knew something was wrong as I was unbalanced, confused and couldn’t answer simple questions so I was taken straight to A&E.
The struggle with memory and fatigue
Luckily, I was wearing a helmet so there was no physical brain damage. But I dealt with post-traumatic amnesia for almost a year, so that extended period with awful memory problems and confusion was really difficult. My largest issues have been memory and fatigue problems. Initially, these were awful and I couldn’t stay awake for more than an hour, and my memory would reset every minute.
I didn’t know who some of my colleagues were when I went back to work, I couldn’t remember work I had been doing a couple of months ago – it was really scary to have this life that everyone was saying was mine, but I had no idea what any of it was.
These issues got better over time, and I still struggle with my memory and fatigue. But thanks to all the tools and strategies I’ve learnt with Headway, I can manage my daily life better and feel like I can engage more in my life.
Community matters in recovery: I wasn’t alone!
I first reached out to Headway Thames Valley for support about a year after my injury, because I felt really stuck in my life.
I felt nothing was getting better, and I wasn’t getting any answers or help from doctors who were telling me nothing was wrong with my brain. Because physically, there was nothing for a surgeon to ‘fix’ but I knew there was something different about me and I needed some help! A family friend told me about Headway and they sounded like the right people who knew about the situation I was in, and how to help me!
Living with Brain Injury Course
The Living with Brain Injury Course run by Headway Thames Valley was essential to my recovery because it gave me some hope that things could get better and showed me that I wasn’t alone in this – I wasn’t the only person out there going through this.
It was invaluable to connect with people who had experienced brain injuries too, and know that other people were experiencing the same things, and hear what they find helpful in their recoveries.
I didn’t get any rehab from professionals as I wasn’t admitted and ‘fell through’ the system, so actually talking to professionals about how I was feeling was invaluable to feeling like this was real and I wasn’t making this up.
Adapting to new limits and navigating work and social life
The biggest obstacle I’ve found is other people understanding that something is different about me now. From the outside, I look exactly the same as before my accident, so it’s hard to explain to family and friends that I need rest breaks, and I can’t understand everyone talking all at once anymore.
The best way I’ve found to deal with it is setting my own boundaries and knowing that I need to look after myself now, more than I did before.
Walking really helped me after my accident – I used to love sports that were very intense so just dialling it back to walks to manage my fatigue helped me get out and feel better without overdoing it.
I’ve attached a picture of me going to my first concert after my accident as I’ve always loved concerts and it was really important to me to be able to get back to doing that. In the future, I want to be able to go to more concerts and find a new sport to get back into.
Returning to work was hard to have people understand what was happening, as people don’t have much experience with brain injuries, but reaching out to your workplace adjustments team and getting the help you deserve is crucial to being successful at returning to work. I recommend not going back to work too much too soon as that makes it so much harder to recover. Speaking from experience!
I’ve attached my first ride back after my accident too – I still ride as it’s a huge part of my life and something I love, and it motivates me to get up and carry on even when things are bad!
I’d say to someone newly diagnosed, it does get better. It’s not going to go away, but you will learn to cope with it and learn ways to live a fulfilling life again. So, reach out for help and don’t give up hope!
Other recovery after brain injury stories
You can also read Leigh’s story of rediscovery, Hannah’s silent struggles, or Paul and Barbara sailing through challenging times to learn about their journeys to recovery after a brain injury.
About Us
Headway Thames Valley is a Henley-on-Thames charity that supports local people helping to improve life after brain injury. We work with adults of all ages, providing help through a range of services and support. Whether it’s at our Centre in Henley-on-Thames, or through our courses and groups, we are dedicated to making a positive impact.