Ten years ago I couldn't walk... now I'm climbing Mt Kilimanjaro

Brain Injury Claims Alfie Russell was ten years old when he was knocked off his bicycle in the road outside his home in Enfield, Middlesex. It was August 1999, and his mother Jayne was in the garden. 'I heard this loud bang,' she recalls, 'and a girl crying. I ran outside and there was Alfie, lying at the foot of a concrete lamppost. He’d been thrown into it from 40ft away.' Jayne was told that her son’s life hung in the balance and that, if he were to survive, his brain injuries were such that he might never walk, talk or see again. So it is nothing short of remarkable that today he is a healthy young man, embarking on a climb of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. His recovery is largely thanks to The Children’s Trust in Tadworth, Surrey. The residential home was established as an independent charity to help children with a range of disabilities to recover, as well as offer respite care and schooling to those with learning difficulties. After spending three weeks in a medically induced coma at Guy’s Hospital, London, Alfie was transferred to the trust, unable to talk or walk, in October 1999. After just one week he had improved dramatically. With the help of Amanda Ruff, head of speech and language therapy, and an intensive course of speech exercises, within a month he was able to recite the days of the week. Three months later he no longer needed nappies (the trauma had rendered him incontinent) and by the following spring, the medication he took to help gain sensation in his limbs had been reduced. ‘Alfie wore a tight-fitting Lycra allin- one suit to aid his recovery,’ explains Dr Gail Hermon, the trust’s clinical director of rehabilitation. ‘The material presses against the skin, giving sensory feedback that is often impaired after a severe brain injury.’ Alfie also had trouble walking because the signals sent from his brain to his leg muscles had been damaged. But with daily physiotherapy, he was walking with a stick and splints on his legs by the end of his nine-month stay. The surface of the brain can tear or bruise due to a blow to the head. Injuries can cause bleeding, blood clots or a build-up of fluid, which puts pressure on the brain and can lead to brain damage. Each year about 700,000 Britons suffer a head injury and about ten per cent are severe. The extent of brain damage depends on the force of the trauma, where it is sustained and how quickly it is treated. ‘The brain is like a motorway and a serious injury is like removing part of a working road,’ says Dr Hermon. We can’t replace it but the nerves will find ways to reroute, making the detour as efficient as possible. For this to work the brain needs to be exercised intensively.’ Alfie sustained the most damage to his brain’s cerebellum region, which is responsible for concentration, co-ordination and sensory perception. He still finds some movements difficult and continues to have physiotherapy. He works part-time at the family roofing business. In 2006 Alfie gave a talk on how his life had been turned around by the trust. Suzanne Dando, former Olympic gymnast and vice-president of the trust, was so moved that she agreed to run the London Marathon with him. Last year Alfie bumped into Suzanne again at a Children’s Trust charity ball and asked if she’d be interested in another fundraiser. ‘Within minutes I found myself agreeing to climb Kilimanjaro,’ says Suzanne. Alongside them will be road-accident survivor James Topping. When he arrived at the trust, aged 15, he could not speak. Within days he was able to produce sounds and eventually coherent sentences. Today James suffers with short-term memory loss, but he is working as a fulltime tree-surgeon. The two young men met four years ago through the charity work they did for the trust. When James heard of his friend’s plan he was keen to join in. They set off on their trek yesterday, hoping to raise £20,000 for the trust. Says Alfie: ‘The trust gave me and James our lives back. We just want to do something to say thank you.’ source: dailymail.co.uk