What Happened

As I woke, after a seven week sleep, I was calm. I didn’t know anything then did I? I was calm, not scared and I put this down to my family and my many friends being there all the time just talking to each other or directly to me – as normal, well, as normal as they could be! Also, the company that I was working for at the time put together a tape recording for me, from everybody in my department just chatting away exactly how we would normally do, on a day to day basis.

The hardest thing is to accept it. Accept what has happened to you, because your life has changed, as it was before, that has all gone! For me to accept it was like saying it was OK!! Ok it definitely was not!! It took me five years to realise. Only then can you start to move on with your life. You see, it is different for everybody. Being a strong character has definitely helped me cope with this. A close friend said to me, ‘I used to think of you as strong before but now I think of you as a Warrior.’

Being able to laugh helped, but only when the time is right for you. I recall the same friend saying to a crowd of us one day, ‘Dania and I were at one of the local nightclubs the other night and she won a Disco Dance competition. She was only walking across the dance floor to get me a packet of crisps!’ Everybody went quiet, until I laughed then together we all roared with laughter. Being strong as helped me get through this but I think at the early stages it was probably a bit of a hindrance.

Simply, it’s like re-programming your computer from scratch, inputting every little detail, detailing it step by step. However, it does allow you to choose to put back into your life the things that you want to put back in! I know I am a better person for having this life experience but DON’T GET ME WRONG, I COULDN’T GO THROUGH IT AGAIN!

The friends at Headway together, made me realise that I wasn’t alone either by what I had been through or the change of pathway that I was now on. I have always said everything happens for a reason…..

Dania acquired her brain injury two months prior to her 25th birthday. The horse she was competing on slipped and fell on her.