Headway-Gauteng

H E A D W A Y G A U T E N G

Dedicated to assisting people with brain injury and their families
OCTOBER 2007
Dear Members
Did you all notice how early in the month the last newsletter went out? Well that is because I was on holiday and Eric Delmont kindly offered to write it in my stead. He is much more organised than me, hence the fact that it was written and sent out in the first week of the month. Thank you so much Eric for all your effort. I was able to enjoy myself without worrying about writing the newsletter when I came back.

HEADWAY/HFC END OF YEAR FUNCTION:

Headway’s End of Year Party will take place at Headway, 85 1st Road, Hyde Park at 5:30 for 6:00 pm on Thursday 22nd November and will end at 9 pm. Supper and soft drinks will be provided. There will be no charge; however, a voluntary donation may be made on the evening if you so wish. Family members and friends are always welcome. As this is a very popular function please book early to avoid disappointment. RSVP to Eric on (011)442-5733.

Please take note of the fact that there will be only one function this year. Also please note that the date has been changed from 29th to 22nd November. We have in the past held two functions, one on a Saturday afternoon and another on a Thursday evening. However, the costs and logistics of having two parties have become too much and we have decided to combine the two. Please let us know as soon as possible if you are planning to attend so that we can facilitate catering arrangements.

FEEDBACK FROM THE MEETING ON 23RD AUGUST:
Ann Nott was our guest speaker again this week. She carried on from her last talk, ‘Trying to find fulfilment after Brain Injury’.
Ann reminded us that the Occupational Therapists aim with brain injured patients is to achieve maximum independence through personal grooming, social and work relationships. Ann has been working with Philip McRobert again recently, helping him to achieve his aim of returning to work. To let everyone understand where Philip has come from, he told his story first.

“I was born in 1973 in Scotland with Cerebral Palsy which affected my right hand, arm and leg. I am not sure how it affected my brain at that stage, if at all, nobody could tell. My parents were told that I would have to go to a special school for disabled/handicapped children but they resisted that challenge and prepared me for going to a normal school, which I did in 1978.

My family came to South Africa in April 1982. I am football crazy and played with our local amateur team where I did well winning many trophies. In fact I was nominated Junior Sports Boy of the Year for Kempton Park but came in second place. The winner that year was Ernie Els.

I continued with normal schooling, went to college and eventually started a full time job with Rennies Foreign Exchange Division at their head office in Braamfontein in 1994 as an Assistant Treasury Clerk. I worked there full time until my car accident on the 4th October 2002 when I sustained my 2nd brain injury.

According to the paramedics who attended to me at the accident I was diagnosed as being a GCS 3 patient, ie: the worst you can get. However, they managed to resuscitate me at the accident scene and once again on the way to the emergency unit at the Glynwood Hospital in Benoni. I was operated on the next day to relieve the pressure on my brain as I had severe frontal lobe damage. I was a mess. The operation was a success although I remained in a coma for 7 days in the intensive care unit. I was then transferred to a medical ward for a few days prior to being transferred to Kensington Rehabilitation Unit where I stayed for 4 weeks although I was allowed home for weekends. While I was in the rehab unit I was given Speech Therapy, Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy etc. The therapists showed my mum and dad how to continue with my rehabilitation at home. After 4 weeks I was discharged. I don’t remember very much of my time in rehab.

When I went home my parents had to teach me how to wash, shower, shave and clean my teeth all over again. My dad had to lift my legs over the step into the shower - I would have stayed there until the water ran cold as my motivational skills had been damaged. I knew I should come out but my body did not recognize that. There must have been a lot of broken connectors in my brain at that stage. My parents had to constantly remind me to swallow my food as I just put it into my mouth and would not chew or swallow. I talked incessantly, had very little short term memory, slept during the day and watched TV most of the night. My response when being asked a question was usually to say “Yes I hear you,” or “I was just checking”. I knew I was expected to respond but I did not understand the questions. I could not follow a normal conversation.

During December 2002 and January 2003 I started having epileptic fits, they started with a few small Petit Mal seizures and then 2 full Grand Mal seizures in the space of a few weeks. I was advised to see specialist, which I did, and my Epilepsy is now under control with medication.

My time at Headway: My parents brought me to meet Eric at Headway to be assessed as a possible candidate for joining the weekday sessions. I became a member of Headway in February 2003. I attended 3 days a week at first, then reduced down to 1 day as I recovered. During my time at Headway Activity days I was retrained in various life and social skills by Ann Nott and the other therapists who worked there at that time. This helped to put some structure back into my life. We did lots of activities from reading passages and then recalling them, or discussing the content of the passage. We did physical training at times. I even learned how to paint, something that I was not interested in before my accident. Headway helped my parents to help me and we will always be grateful to them. We would be in a very sorry state without their ongoing love and support.

In the second half of 2004 I decided to continue with my Sports Management Diploma studies which I had nearly finished at the time of the accident. I contacted the college, arranged to go back to evening classes - then told my mum. She did not think I was ready to study and was afraid I would not be able to handle failure, if I did. Mum asked Eric and the other therapists to try to dissuade me but I was determined, and would not listen to them. Eventually Eric told my mum that he felt she should now encourage me. If I did fail it would teach me that life did have ’little knocks’ which everyone has to learn how to handle and that perhaps it was to time to stop protecting me so much. I wrote my exams and successfully graduated in November 2004 with the following subjects: Sociology of Sport - Coaching & Training – Nutrition - Sports Psychology - Sports Marketing.

In 2005 I was having problems with anger management and frustration. I was living with my parents at that time, and felt that I needed some independence back in my life. I went into a ’halfway house’ type of establishment called Talisman. This is hostel type accommodation for people with various types of problems, drug and alcohol abuse, and other mental problems. I stayed there for a couple of months. My parents realised that Talisman was not the correct type of environment for me and I returned home. I still have the anger management issues at times. I still needed my independence so I decided to have some ‘refresher’ driving lessons so that I could get back on the road again without having to depend on other people to take me wherever I wanted to go. I think I had 6 or 8 lessons and then passed the evaluation criteria and I bought my new car in September 2005.

At the end of 2005 we had a guest speaker at HFC Dennis Tabakin who talked about his achievements with disabled and blind people running marathons etc. I was challenged by Ann Nott to take part in the next New York Marathon which was in November 2006. I decide to pick up the challenge and dedicated the whole year to training for the big one in New York in November.
I joined my local gym and worked out a training programme which consisted of 3 hrs per day – 5 days per week, I also joined a running club and participated in a number of road races to build up my strength and stamina, starting off with a few 10ks, a couple of 15ks and 2x 21ks / half marathons. My first full marathon was in New York. My time for the NYC Marathon was 5hrs 22mins. I had a rest from running for a few months to recover but I am back in the gym at week-ends. I am still running with my club and have my first race under my belt for this season. My parents noticed that I can handle stress much easier when I was exercising daily.

A few months ago I heard about a company called PROGRESSION who are labour brokers for disabled people. I went to see them and they arranged an interview for me with the University of Johannesburg where I am now doing an internship in the faculty office. I do general admin and data capture on a short term assignment. At least I am doing something in the work environment again, and it feels good to be productive and more independent.”

Ann then told us Phil’s story from her point of view. Philip had been very frustrated because he has not been working, so they mapped a path towards going back to work. To get him back into the work ethic, Ann advised Philip to try to find a position volunteering in his community. Philip phoned schools, churches, social work departments, charity organizations etc and started to help at the local Child Welfare department. This helped build mental and physical endurance. During this time Ann continued working with Philip on his interviewing skills. They held ‘mock interviews’ and Ann found Philip’s presentation was good. She guided him through some of the questions she thought he might be asked during an interview. They looked at his C.V and Ann advised Philip to put her name on it as a reference, as she was able to tell a possible future employer about Philip’s abilities since his recovery. She encouraged Philip to ring ‘Progression’ again to see if there was any more information on the intern position they had discussed with him, which he did and sometime later he was interviewed by the university and now has a short internship with them, this will give Philip a better chance to find a full time occupation at a later stage.

Ann then talked about how a TBI person needs to rebuild their social life to meet new people. The best way to tackle this is by taking ‘baby steps’, tackling a little at a time. This can be done by going back to their hobby or sport. Some people may need to consider changing their sport to suit their new needs, for instance instead of playing soccer, take up running as Philip did.

Thank you Philip for sharing your story with us and also a big thank you to Ann for her very informative and interesting talk. Thanks once again, too to Kath and Charles McRobert for taking notes at the meeting.

ANNIVERSARIES OF ACCIDENT/ILLNESS:
“Now is no time to think of what you do not have. Think of what you can do with what there is.” Ernest Hemmingway.
Ameena Akhalwaya                  2006                 Brent Partridge                         2002
Beverley Brown                        2002                 Allison Pierpoint                        2004
Carel Combrinck                       2002                 Shelley Salmon                          1995
Pamela Herman                                    2001                 Sheldon du Preez                       2006
Michael de Wit                          2003                 Louise Steyn                             1995
Kath du Toit                              2003                 Alex Zaal                                  1997
Natasha Gahler                         1999                 Daniel Zackey                           1997
Philip McRobert                        2002

NEW MEMBERS:
We would like to welcome Wendy and Russel Rodwell, Amanda Ellis and Ziggi, Hetta and Reinhard Aussel to Headway. We hope that their membership will prove to be beneficial in both support and information.

GET WELL SOON:
Avril Shapiro, one of our volunteers is recovering from an operation. We wish you well, Avril and look forward to seeing you at Headway again soon.

Special love and sympathy go out to Nicola Knobel, one of our young volunteers whose mom passed away recently. Our hearts go out to her at this very sad and difficult time.

Our love and sympathy go to Clive Harding, also a special volunteer on the death of his sister.

Condolences go to the family of Mpho, one of our attendees at HOPA, who passed away in October.

NEWS OF OUR MEMBERS:
We have a budding author in our midst! Elma Vertue whose son Ruan was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumour in 2000 and who subsequently passed away in July 2006 entered a short story competition in an Afrikaans Magazine called “Leef – met hart & siel”. Elma told of her ‘journey’ with her two sons, one whose adult life was just beginning and the other whose life was coming to an end. This is an incredibly sad yet uplifting story and we were delighted to hear that Elma has won the competition. She says that she found it extremely hard, but in the end putting it down on paper proved to be cathartic for her soul. She is now busy writing a book. Well, Elma if the book is half as good as the short story, it will be fantastic. We are so proud of you and we know that your ‘undercover angel’ will be with you all the way.

THANKS FOR DONATIONS:
Once again we are amazed at the kindness and generosity of our members. Hardly a day goes by without someone donating something. We thank Rozanne Gevers who donated two new books for our library; Alison and Garth Munro who donated a box of photocopy paper, something we obviously use a huge amount of; Office National our stationery suppliers who deliver a box of biscuits every week; Margie Lockwood, one of our volunteers who also donates boxes of biscuits on a regular basis and all those members who add a little bit extra on to their accounts. We have even had our toilets and bathrooms steam cleaned for free (a big thank you to Fiona Hahn) and we are now germ free and smelling fresh!

Those of you who come to our office in Hyde Park will have no doubt have noticed that our boundary wall has been freshly painted. We would like to thank the Dominican Sisters who were having the wall painted at Calaroga (their town houses next door to us) and kindly did our wall as well. Headway is privileged to be in the grounds of San Salvador (a home for intellectually challenged women) which is owned and run by the The Dominican Sisters. We are a haven of tranquillity in the hurly burly of the big city, and everyone always remarks on the special and peaceful atmosphere. We look out on to gardens and trees and have a wide variety of birds coming to our bird feeder.

We have had some wonderful monetary donations this month. Werksmans Attorneys gave us R21 000. We would like to thank Jeffrey Bortz for motivating this donation and for their continued support. PPS held a golf day with Headway as the beneficiary and raised R20 000! Our grateful thanks go to Vinette Diab, the sister of one of our injured members, who is their Public Relations Executive and who was responsible for the organisation of the golf day. Vinette and Blanka Sulentic (Head of Marketing at PPS) as well as other staff members came to have tea with us and presented us with a big ‘cheque’ which is now taking pride of place on the wall in our Gym.

‘My School’ Card:
A reminder to get yourself a “My School” Card with Headway as the beneficiary. It costs you nothing to get one or to use it. However, every time you shop at Woolworths or other participating outlets, eg Stax, and present your card, a percentage of your spend comes to Headway. Please phone me (Ann Coe) on (011)442-5733 if you would like to get a card, and I can either fax or post you an application form.

Mondi Bin:
A report back on our bin is that more and more members are becoming aware that we have one, and it is being emptied on a regular basis. Thank you for bringing in all your newspapers, magazines, books etc and helping Headway as well as saving the planet!

Cartridge Recycling:
Another green initiative is our cartridge recycling project. I am sure that just about every household and office has a printer. Don’t throw the used cartridges in the bin. Bring them in to Headway. We collect them for a company who recycles them. Their motto is “Be responsible, RECYCLE: make your corporate and personal footprint on the environment a positive one!” And, of course you help raise money for Headway.

FEEDBACK FROM BARNYARD EVENING:
We are delighted to report that our Barnyard evening was a huge success, and we hope that this will pave the way for many more successful evenings to come. Thank you so much to Elaine Blanckenberg, Rozanne Gevers and Barbara Wassenaar, as well as the Blanckenberg and Gevers families who ensured that everything went off like clockwork on the evening. A big thank you too to all of those who attended and enjoyed the show with us. Our profit was in excess of R40 000 with R11 000 of that coming from the raffle. Another thank you to all those generous people who donated items for our raffle and to those in the audience who put ‘stickers’ on their money!

RAFFLE TICKETS FOR SALE:
We are selling Raffle tickets in aid of Headway. Anyone wanting to assist with selling of raffle tickets or wishing to buy tickets please contact me (Ann Coe) on (011)442-5733. You stand a chance of winning a two night stay at selected Southern Sun Hotels worth R3 700.00. The prize is valid for one year from the date of issue. Tickets cost R20.00 each or 6 for R100.00. The draw will take place at the Headway End of Year Function on Thursday 22nd November.

HEADWAY’S FINANCIALS:
Our audit was completed in September and we would like to thank Deloitte (our auditors) for doing this for no charge. This is a huge saving. If any of you would like to view our financial statements they have been published on our Website www.headway-gauteng.org. Click on the “information” button.

FAREWELL TO RUDO:
Unfortunately Headway is saying “goodbye” to Rudo Chiwitsu this month. Rudo is the fieldworker in charge of our Outreach Programme in Alexandra (Khomelela). She has been offered an administrative position at Wits University in the Audiology Department, and as she has always been interested in speech therapy she feels that this will help her to further her career. We thank her for all she has done for Headway over the year she has been working for us and wish her everything of the best for the future.

COMPANION/MOTIVATOR/LIFE COACH LOOKING FOR A JOB:
Lorna Neumann has experience in being a companion to a brain injured person. She is a life coach as well as being able to motivate the person to achieve specific goals. She is looking for more challenges at the moment. If you are interested please contact Lorna on 082 964-0507.

NEXT MEETING:
The next meeting of the Headway Friendship Circle will be held on 18th October at Headway Hyde Park, 85 1st Road, Hyde Park at 6pm. The guest speaker will be Jackie Schoch (Headway’s OT). Family members and friends are welcome. A light supper will be served after the meeting.

Thought for the Day – The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen, nor touched, but are felt in the heart. Helen Keller.

Customer: “I’ve been ringing 0700 2300 for two days and can’t get through to enquiries, can you help?”
Operator: “Where did you get that number from, sir?”
Customer: “It was on the door to the Travel Centre.”
Operator: “Sir, they are our opening hours.”

Samsung Electronics:
Caller: “Can you give me the telephone number for Jack?”
Operator : “I’m sorry, sir, I don’t understand who you are talking about.”
Caller: “On page 1, section 5, of the user guide it clearly states that I need to unplug the fax machine from the AC wall socket and telephone Jack before, cleaning. Now, can you give me the number for Jack?”
Operator: “I think you mean the telephone point on the wall.”

RAC Motoring Services:
Caller: “Does your European Breakdown Policy cover me when I am travelling in Australia?”
Operator: “Doesn’t the product name give you a clue?”

Then there was the caller who asked for a knitwear company in Woven.
Operator: “Woven? Are you sure?”
Caller: “Yes. That’s what it says on the label. Woven in Scotland.”