I wrote two novels, then a traumatic brain injury forced me to learn to write all over again

Luke Beirne · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 20, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 1 infinitesimal ago

I sat looking retired astatine a assemblage gathered for my publication motorboat successful Fredericton connected March 30, affectional due to the fact that of the travel it took to get there. 

In September 2022, astatine the property of 26, I suffered a life-threatening encephalon wounded during a boxing grooming session.

I was successful a coma for 5 weeks. 

During my recovery, which is inactive ongoing, determination were times I was not definite I would ever walk, provender myself oregon constitute again. 

On that day, sitting successful beforehand of patients and unit astatine the Stan Cassidy Centre for Rehabilitation, wherever I lived for 2 months aft my injury, I spoke astir my full beingness being restructured for recovery, astir my household being told that I mightiness ne'er beryllium capable to beryllium location unsocial again, astir engaging successful regular therapy sessions to relearn basal beingness skills.

Going backmost there, I had to look the representation of each of those hard weeks and months of recovery. But I was besides face-to look with radical who had suffered injuries conscionable similar mine. I had erstwhile been wherever they were and could scope them successful a antithetic mode than their attraction team.

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I had travel truthful adjacent to losing the quality to constitute and was present sitting successful 1 of the places which helped maine redevelop that skill, among galore others. I was looking straight astatine members of the attraction squad who had worked truthful hard to assistance me.

The code connection pathologist who worked with me, time aft day, retraining my speechmaking and penning skills was close there. So was the physiotherapist who had helped maine larn to locomotion again.

The thought that I would ever beryllium capable to constitute different caller seemed intolerable successful those days.

 The injury

I wasn't successful a combat erstwhile the wounded happened, conscionable a sparring league to hole for one. I don't retrieve the league astatine all. It was wiped from my representation entirely.

I don't retrieve mounting it up, speaking with the coaches, immoderate of the planning, oregon the travel from Saint John to the nine successful Moncton. 

Afterwards, I spent 5 weeks successful a medically induced coma astatine the Moncton Hospital. While I was successful that coma, my household stayed astatine my bedside. 

I was initially fed done a conduit successful my pharynx and had to re-learn basal beingness skills astatine the rehabilitation centre, including however to swallow and walk, from a fantastic squad of therapists. 

Physiotherapists helped maine physique up the musculus and past retrain myself to locomotion astatine the rehabilitation centre, utilizing peculiar instrumentality and support. 

For a agelong clip aft my injury, my imaginativeness was severely affected. I had a benignant of treble vision, wherever I besides saw things somewhat retired of place. 

No 'time off'

During this aboriginal betterment period, each infinitesimal of my days were scheduled, moving from 1 therapy league to another. I had nary clip off.

Even erstwhile not actively taking portion successful a therapy session, I was perpetually moving — just surviving became work.  

I don't retrieve overmuch from the aboriginal stages of my betterment due to the fact that determination was a agelong play erstwhile I could not clasp memory. 

I began penning astir immediately, moving distant successful notebooks that my partner Charlotte would manus me. When I look backmost astatine these notebooks, the penning is crooked and meanders betwixt the lines. 

My representation of this clip is astir non-existent. It was truthful bad that Charlotte would permission for enactment successful the morning and I would hide that she lived successful the centre with maine astir arsenic soon arsenic she stepped retired the door. 

She would travel backmost aft enactment to spot maine sitting determination with wide eyes, looking lost.

Throughout my recovery, Charlotte has been incredible. The spot that she carried maine with, peculiarly successful the aboriginal days, stuns me.  

After my release, I lived successful Fredericton due to the fact that I needed to stay an outpatient astatine "the Stan." Charlotte and I stayed crossed the thoroughfare from her grandparents successful an bare location owned by a person of theirs. 

During this time, my household enactment a immense magnitude of effort and attraction into my recovery. My mom Eilish Cleary was a doc and believed profoundly successful the wellness benefits of engaging with nature.

After recovering to a definite point, I would spell retired to her location successful Penniac and walk clip successful the woods down it, walking with her done hills of roots and pine. She believed that navigating this benignant of terrain was beneficial to retraining my caput and body. 

My ma passed distant successful March 2024, but I was fortunate capable to walk a batch of clip with her betwixt my mishap and her passing and cognize that it brought her bid to spot however good I had recovered. 

My dada and brothers lived successful Ireland astatine the clip but travelled to Canada for agelong periods. My sister spent a batch of clip visiting maine and celebrated my merchandise from the Stan Cassidy Centre by bringing a barroom and balloons.

I besides spent a immense magnitude of clip with Charlotte's grandparents, who drove maine to appointments oregon played committee games with me. As a result, I grew precise adjacent to them and they present consciousness similar different acceptable of grandparents. 

After I returned to Saint John, I was inactive not acceptable to beryllium alone, truthful I spent my days with a fantastic home-care worker, who went supra and beyond with the magnitude of kindness and compassion she showed me. She would spell to the gym with me, assistance cleanable the apartment, and locomotion maine to and from appointments. 

What was astir beneficial, however, was conscionable having idiosyncratic determination for societal enactment during the day. Keeping my caput progressive was cardinal to a beardown recovery.

I recognition penning arsenic a cardinal portion of my recovery. I worked with my dad, besides a published author, to relearn to constitute from the aboriginal days of my recovery. We would bash regular video calls, moving on retraining penning techniques and communicative operation elements. 

After moving connected tiny projects, I stepped backmost into one that I had been moving connected earlier my injury. What began arsenic a abbreviated story expanded to go my precocious published 3rd caller Saints Rest. This kept my caput progressive and stimulated. 

Though the process of moving connected the publication was highly hard for a fig of reasons, maintaining absorption and retaining representation of earlier parts of the publication arsenic I got further in, I judge that it played a important relation successful getting maine wherever I americium today. 

I americium ever grateful for however fortunate I person been with my recovery.  

So I constitute this arsenic a connection of anticipation for others who've experienced a traumatic encephalon injury: beingness volition beryllium hard but determination is airy ahead.