Rebuilding Life after Brain Injury: Dreamtalk tells the survival story of Sheena McDonald, who in 1999 was hit by a police van and suffered a very severe brain injury. Sheena's story is told from her own, personal standpoint and also from two further unique and invaluable perspectives. Allan Little, a BBC journalist and now Sheena's husband, describes both the physical and mental impact of the injury on himself and on Sheena. Gail Robinson, Sheena's neuropsychological rehabilitation specialist, provides professional commentaries on Sheena's condition, assessment and recovery process.

The word Dreamtalk, created by Allan to describe Sheena's once "hallucinogenic state", sets the tone for this book. It humanises and contextualises the impact of brain injury, providing support and encouragement for patients, professionals and families. It presents exclusive insights into each stage of recovery, spanning coma, altered consciousness, post-traumatic amnesia and rehabilitation; all showing how she has defied conventional clinical expectations and made an exceptional recovery.

This book is valuable reading to those who have suffered a brain injury and also to professionals such as neurologists, neuropsychologists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists and speech therapists working in the field.

Sheena McDonald is a British radio and TV journalist.

Allan Little is a British radio and TV journalist working for the BBC, and co-author of The Death of Yugoslavia (1995).

Gail Robinson is a Consultant Clinical Neuropsychologist and Associate Professor at the Queensland Brain Institute & School of Psychology, the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, specialising in detailed single-case studies.

Rebuilding Life after Brain Injury: Dreamtalk tells the survival story of Sheena McDonald, who in 1999 was hit by a police van and suffered a very severe brain injury. Sheena's story is told from her own, personal standpoint and also from two further unique and invaluable perspectives. Allan Little, a BBC journalist and now Sheena's husband, describes both the physical and mental impact of the injury on himself and on Sheena. Gail Robinson, Sheena's neuropsychological rehabilitation specialist, provides professional commentaries on Sheena's condition, assessment and recovery process.

The word Dreamtalk, created by Allan to describe Sheena's once "hallucinogenic state", sets the tone for this book. It humanises and contextualises the impact of brain injury, providing support and encouragement for patients, professionals and families. It presents exclusive insights into each stage of recovery, spanning coma, altered consciousness, post-traumatic amnesia and rehabilitation; all showing how she has defied conventional clinical expectations and made an exceptional recovery.

This book is valuable reading to those who have suffered a brain injury and also to professionals such as neurologists, neuropsychologists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists and speech therapists working in the field.

List of figures

List of tables

Series Foreword

Professor Barbara Wilson

Note

Preface

1. What happened?
2. Was it that bad?
3. Coma
4. Trauma
5. Who am I now?
6. Back to work
7. Life after near-death
8. Plodding on
9. Brave neurological world

Index