Raising Awareness of Traumatic Brain Injury By Joel Newman & Emily Walker
Following his own traumatic experience, Brooke Trotter dedicates his time to raising awareness of his injuries and making the roads a safer place to be.
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rooke was a student in 2007, studying at a university in Manchester. Whilst he was walking home from a night out after seeing a band in Deansgate Locks, a car came racing down the 30 miles per hour road where he was crossing, driving at nearly double the speed limit. Having seen Brooke crossing the road, the car skidded to a stop onto the pavement colliding with Brooke. Due to the speed of the car, Brooke incurred a lot of injuries. He landed on the bonnet and his head collided with the windshield. This resulted in a fractured skull, a broken cheekbone, nose and jaw. Brooke was taken by ambulance to Manchester Royal Infirmary, where due to the severity of his injuries he 142
had to have a drainage procedure to his brain because it was swelling so excessively as a result of his head colliding with the windshield. The incident was also traumatic for Brooke’s parents. His mum was living in the North East making her 3 hours away at the time and his dad was working out of the country making him difficult to contact. The police alerted Brooke’s mum of the incident by visiting the family home in the early hours of the morning, she was able to speak with a nurse over the telephone who advised she were to come to Manchester as soon as possible as given the severity of the injuries a recovery could not be guaranteed. Soon after, Brooke’s father received a call from his daughter telling him of what happened. He returned to England on the earliest possible flight, nervous to turn his phone off for the flight, not knowing what would have happened when he turned it back on. When his father arrived at the
LANCASHIRE & NORTH WEST MAGAZINE
hospital, Brooke was still in a coma, the doctors that were looking after him informed the family that there was only a 30% chance that Brooke would ever wake up from the coma. The coma lasted 16 days and on the 16th day, Brooke’s eyes finally opened. Opening his eyes was just the start, a common misconception is that at this point all is well however, it was another two weeks before Brooke said his first words. He spoke first to one of the nurses on the ward asking her for half a pint of beer, a moment that enthused Brooke’s family that recovery was in sight. After awaking in the hospital, Brooke was moved between a few wards before he started to regain memories. He once awoke thinking he was in a hospital in his home town, it wasn’t until he left the building that he realised he was not. He remained in different hospitals for the six months that followed, before being allowed to return to his home in the North East where his parents cared for him for a further six months. www.lancmag.com
