Acquired brain injury reaches epidemic scale

ACQUIRED brain injury (ABI) has become Ireland’s hidden epidemic because survivors cannot seek the services they need and their families are too exhausted to come forward, Barbara O’Connell, chief executive of the Peter Bradley Foundation, claimed yesterday.

Every year about 10,000 people sustain a head injury in Ireland and lead a dramatically altered life afterwards.

Accessing appropriate rehabilitation can prove hugely difficult for ABI survivors and, because of the severity of their injury, returning to work or family life is often impossible.