In a split second, Trish and Bruce Beavis’ lives changed forever. A fall left Bruce with a serious brain trauma and recovery schedule he wouldn’t be able to keep up without the continued love and support of his wife.
Yes, life has changed, but the pair’s positive outlook on life could not be more strong. Rachel Oldknow reports.
BRUCE and Trish Beavis are the picture of happiness.
They say time can heal all wounds and in the case of this husband and wife it is true.
Little over 12 months ago, the couple’s normal, happy existence came to an earth shattering halt when Bruce suffered a brain trauma injury that almost claimed his life.
The date, October 19, 2008, is one that is etched in the memories of both Trish and Bruce.
The couple, who now live at Anna Bay, were getting ready to sell Bruce’s house in Rutherford.
Bruce was cleaning the garage when a piece of timber dislodged from a ceiling shelf, striking him on the head.
He fell heavily to the cement floor below.
It was a fall that put him in an induced coma for 10-days and would see him in John Hunter Hospital for the next eight weeks.
Bruce cannot recall the accident however Trish remembers it vividly.
“I came out to the garage to check on Bruce and found him unconscious on the floor….I just went into autopilot,” she said of the accident.
Trish described the next three days as ‘hell’.
“It was 11.30am when the accident happened,” Trish said.
“At 5pm I was getting dire information with doctors telling me it would depend on the first 24-hours, then it was the next 24-hours and then it was 72-hours,” she said.
Three days passed and medical staff asked Trish if she wanted the good news or the bad news.
The good news was Bruce hadn’t sustained a great deal of damage to the front of his brain and that his spinal cord wasn’t damaged. The bad news was it would take years of rehabilitation to recover from the injury.
From the John Hunter Hospital, Bruce was moved to the Newcastle Brain Injury Service where he started his long rehabilitation journey.
The couple cannot praise the service and the exceptional staff at the unit for their role in Bruce’s recovery.
As too the ICU, neurological nurses and doctors at John Hunter Hospital.
As part of his recovery, Bruce stayed Monday to Friday at the Newcastle Brain Injury unit where he underwent physiotherapy, psychology and speech therapy.
Up until two weeks ago, Bruce was an out patient of the service.
His short term memory is still a little rusty but Bruce remembers clearly his life up until the accident including his working life as a mechanical engineer.
He has had to retrain his brain to remember.
“His short term memory is not the best,” Trish says.
“When you have a brain injury you have to retrain your brain to remember pathways that have been blocked and you have to retrain your brain to make a detour around that block,” she explains.
Bruce likens the process to his school days.
“A lot is like going back to third class, you have to look at a dinner plate and think what is a plate, what is it used for and what colour it is.
“Most of the information is in the file but it’s in the wrong file,” he joked.
Those early days were a harrowing experience and no doubt one both would like to forget however Trish says it was Bruce’s strength that got them through.
“He was 110 per cent determined,” she said.
“At one stage he could have said I’m not going to wake up but he had to have the inner strength, he had to want to wake up and he did.”
Both say the support from their families and friends has been unwavering.
Trish, a resident of Singleton for 30 years, could not have survived without it.
“Our family, both our families, were great, I wouldn’t have got through it without them,” said Trish.
The couple’s ordeal has been harrowing and a real test of their strength yet they are starting to regain their happiness and enjoy the simple things in life again.
“Something so simple can destroy your life,” Trish says.
“You have to have a strong constitution and a strong faith and you live everyday like there is no tomorrow.”
With Bruce able to travel, the couple attended a friend’s 60th birthday in Brisbane last weekend, catching up with friends and enjoying simple pleasures.
Trish also said she would like to contact other people who have had experiences with traumatic bran injury who may need support with either a phone call or a cuppa and an ‘unload’.
•Prior to the accident Bruce was self employed as a mechanical engineer who specialised in the design, manufacture, modification and repair of heavy tyrehandling machinery.
Among his projects sitting in his workshop at home is the prototype of a tyrehandler which Bruce was developing to help fund his retirement.
Anyone interested in inspecting the machinery or seeking support is welcome to call the couple on 49 190 331.
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