Aidan’s journey, from hopelessness to a future filled with hope.

Aidan was 22, in the last year of his electrical apprenticeship, he had recently bought a house with his then partner, was a keen competitive mountain biker who was an ambassador for Giant bikes and sponsored by Crank It Cycles. He had started his own firewood business.

Life changed on the 19th February 2016 when Aidan received an unexpected single punch to his head which knocked him unconscious causing him to fall onto the road. This caused not one but two severe traumatic brain injuries.

Aidan was not expected to live and spent over two weeks fighting for his life in ICU. Over the next months as Aidan slowly regained consciousness he was in and out of Wellington Hospital medically unwell as well as suffering from the effects of the brain injury. Aidan needed to be feed through a tube in his stomach, he couldn’t talk and has reliant on carer’s for his every need, Aidan just lay in bed doing nothing and we were terrified that this was going to be Aidan’s life.

We were with Aidan every day traveling up and down from Marton to Wellington. We had some support to do this which we were grateful for however the financial cost was huge. We used all our annual/sick leave, went on leave without pay for weeks on end and cut work hours.

When the doctors told us that Aidan would never walk again that was a turning point. “DO NOT FACTOR OUT AIDAN” was our constant voice he is strong and determined. Our boy proved us right he very slowly improved with support; however when he was readmitted to hospital for five weeks with aspirated pneumonia having lost 13.5 kilos in the first two weeks he thought had lost him again. Once he had recovered enough we decided to bring him home, thinking if we were to lose him we would rather have him at home and spend as much time as possible with him.

This proved to be another turning point for Aidan for once he was home with an amazing support team of nurses and healthcare workers and with his sheer determination he has he has proven every prognosis wrong. He IS walking with aids, talking, eating normally, attends the gym 3-4 x weekly, splits wood with his wood splitter (while in his wheel chair) insisting he doesn’t need help. He wants to start a firewood business and is working so hard to get back on his bike. His therapists call him an inspiration so much so that the Neuro Psychologist wants to use him as a case study.

Aidan has had many operations: 4 brain operations (two in one day) including a peek cranioplasty (Plastic forehead as Aidan’s skull bone was reabsorbing), Tracheostomy, PEG feed insertion, a Baclofen Pump inserted in to his stomach and finally a Dymanic Hip Screw to his hip as he fell and broke it December 2017. Each time Aidan has an operation we live with the fear that perhaps this time he won’t pull through. We live with this dread and yet he continues to amaze us with his strength and determination.

We had significant costs when Aidan came home, power bills of over $700 as we had to keep him warm, Aidan has 24 hour staff so the cost involved with having extra people in the house to name a few. ACC has been extremely helpful but did not cover all costs to our house. Each operation we supported Aidan and his recovery which was costly, as one operation was in Christchurch. We need help to pay for these unexpected expenses to enable us to continue to support Aidan as life continues to be costly with having to take time off work to attend Aidan’s many appointments.

We would appreciate your help so much and would like to note that we have found it very difficult to ask for help. It is not something we ever thought we would need to do.