Update December 5, 2004
Well, 2 and a half years later and Adrian is today moving into a residential center today that is in our town and only 5 minutes away!!!!!! I have only seen him 6 times in the past 2 years as it was such a long way away but I did talk on the phone to him every night. Luckily my sister lived in the same town he did so she did a lot with him. Now he is here. After waiting all this time to get him home closer to us I find I am now scared!!!! Adrian is now 20 years old and I don't want the 'mother-guilt' I feel to make me act in such a way that he gets put first and my other children feel left out!! I am so rapt that he is going to be in our town and can now start to have a relationship with him and get to know the new him. He can walk and talk but his short-term memory is not very good. He does retain a bit of new information after he has been told it quite a few times. But he will have to live in a residential situation for the rest of his life. The place he is going is run like a flatting situation and he will be happy there. So, that's the update for us. Anyone with a child who is now 'adult' but brain-injured who would like to be in touch with me please e-mail me. Jules
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Original Post
Our son, Adrian, now 19, got into a bit of trouble 2 years ago and ended up in a police cell here in New Zealand. He panicked and hung himself with his T-shirt. Adrian was hypoxic for about 18 minutes and as a result is brain injured. He was flown to hospital and was in a coma for 6 weeks. As anyone who has 'been there, done that' knows, it is an awful time watching your loved one going through all sorts of horrors. He is fully funded by our government for his rehab so luckily we don't have that as an issue. He lives in a rehab unit 500 miles away from us as there is not one that is closer. As a mum, a lot of you will be able to relate to how I feel being so far away from my boy. 2 years post-injury, he is not making much progress. Short-term memory loss, cognitive problems and needing to be supervised at all times as he is an unguided missile. Is there anyone out there who will take the time to e-mail me and give me some support? Many thanks- JULES

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