Ellee Seymour

I spent one afternoon this week sitting in an out-patients clinic run by a neurosurgeon at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge for his brain injured patients in my role as a Headway trustee.

It was truly harrowing listening to so many personal stories of tragedy, how people’s lives have changed dramatically overnight.

The Cambridgeshire branch of Headway runs a unique service by having a representative based at the hospital and is allowed to sit in on these consultations, so she can then follow through by offering support from Headway. This is a very valuable partnership.

Most of the cases I heard involved men who had been assaulted. These were decent, ordinary guys who were either attacked at work or while out and about. A couple of them talked about difficulties with their employers when they returned to work as they still suffered memory loss, fatigue and headaches, but their bosses have little understanding about the challenges brain injured adults face when returning to the workplace. I would like to raise awareness on this important issue.

*One of our service users, Mick Jacobs, who is pictured with East Enders actor Perry Fenwick, has started writing a blog describing how he is recovering from his motor bike accident which left him brain injured. It is hosted by BBC Radio Cambridgeshire and is to featured by BBC Look East too. This is one of his extracts:

My case worker got me coming to HEADWAY CAMBRIDGESHIRE, after a lot of persuasion, and I’m glad she did. I used to think I was the only one like this. But there are so many people, all in the same boat, and they are all really great. I have made loads of friends in the short time I have been here, which has been about two months.

The future is going to be challenging. Not only for me, but more for Rose my wife and kids as they are also involved in my head injury. Because it just don’t affect the one person involved. It affects the whole family.

I never fail to be amazed by the strength and courage that people like Mick have in times of such terrible adversity. I liked his introduction, and hope to one day meet him and his wife Rose:

My name is Mick Jacobs, aged 44. I got married 22 years ago to Rose, who I call ‘My roll of sellotape’, because she stops me from falling apart.

Share on Facebook

My MEP Robert Sturdy was among Conservative spokesmen who led the vote against allowing US imports of chlorinated chicken in the EU – a practice banned in Europe. Yet the British government was the only country which turned a blind eye to this.

Robert is the Conservative international trade spokesman and his concerns were based on how meeting American demands would flout present strict public health standards.

The Commission had proposed allowing businesses to use four currently banned anti-microbial substances to decontaminate poultry carcasses following pressure from the US, even though the EU has had a ban on US chlorinated poultry since 1997. American producers use low-concentration chlorine to wash chickens before selling them.

Robert said:

“This has nothing to do with banning American poultry, it is about them meeting our present public health standards which have been set for a reason. There is no room for compromise when it comes to ensuring food standards in the EU remain the highest in the world. This could pose a risk to public health and loss of confidence in the product.

“And I wonder why the British government has failed to support the retention of the ban – the only country out of 27 which abstained during a recent vote on importing American chlorinated chicken. Could it be pressure from supermarkets to provide cheap food, or wanting to keep the Americans happy?”

I personally wondered about the air miles too, why do we need American imported chicken – chlorinated or not? Shouldn’t we be supporting the British poultry industry which has suffered over the last year or so?

*This picture is nothing to do with chickens, it is my lovely sister Rosalind who has a dress shop in Wisbech and met Robert to discuss Chinese imported clothes.

Share on Facebook