Independent.ie: Complacent cylists urged to start using their heads – and helmets

Sam Fleming was just 20 years old when he suffered a brain injury after a cycling accident. He was left severely disabled and unable to walk. He was not wearing a helmet at the time. Yesterday the Peter Bradley foundation launched its ‘Mind Your Head’ campaign to highlight the consequences of not wearing protective headgear in activities like cycling, working or playing sports.

After eight months of hospital treatment, Sam was discharged and now lives in a Peter Bradley Foundation house, where he is encouraged to live as independent a life as possible.

“For six years we desperately tried to find help and support,” Sam’s mother Pam said yesterday.

“His brain injury had not only disabled him but had also affected his personality. Not knowing what to do left us all frustrated and tired.”

“If we collapsed, Sam would have ended up in a nursing home, left without rehabilitation services in an environment unsuited for someone so young, totally dependent on others for everything.”

More than 10,000 people in Ireland are affected by acquired brain injury (ABI) and incidents of the condition as a result of accidents or illness are increasing every year, according to the Peter Bradley Foundation.

Established in 2000 by the family of Dubliner Mr Bradley, who suffered two brain injuries in his youth, it provides assisted living to ABI victims allowing them to live independently in their own communities.

“In Ireland we are only now beginning to understand acquired brain injury (ABI) and to recognise it as a distinct and unique disability,” Barbara O’Connell, Peter Bradley Foundation CEO, said.

“It is possible for people with an ABI to regain a measure of independent living if given the proper support services,” she said.

The first stage of the Foundation’s campaign will focus on cyclists and will highlight the widespread complacency surrounding the wearing of bicycle helmets. With over 400 children on bikes injured on the country’s roads between 1998 and 2005, the Foundation urged all cyclists, young and old, to wear a helmet at all times.

“The Health Service Executive (HSE) has been supportive of our work but additional resources at local level and increased priority would greatly benefit the 10,000 people with ABI in Ireland,” she said.

“The lack of increased core funding is putting pressure on our ability to provide the services required by people with ABI across Ireland.”

Dr Mark Delargy of the National Rehabilitation Hospital also called on the Government to improve services for people with ABI in a rehabilitation setting.