“The Voice of those affected by Head Injury”
“Te Korero o ratou kau pangia i nga mate ki te mahunga”
Author Christine Durham talks to HISNZ about her book “Doing Up Buttons”Bang! Suddenly my car was flying out of control, spinning round then a huge explosion and blackness. Much, much later I learnt that a car had sped out of a side street, hit my car, which spun round until my driver's door slammed into a telegraph pole. The driver of the other car left me choking on my seat belt and having an epileptic fit and went down the road to have a quote to have his car fixed. After months in hospital I returned home and tried to cope with the monster of pain and the dragon that had taken over my brain. The Pain Monster and the Head Dragon left me feeling loathsome, unlovable not a 'proper' mother, wife or even a proper human being. I struggled in the fog of my mind to define what made a 'Proper' human being - they could do up their own buttons - my uncooperative brain and fingers couldn't do this simple task. I searched in vain to try to understand about brain injury and over five years I scribbled on envelopes, on the back of cereal packets then slowly and painfully with my one finger that 'worked' I wrote “Doing Up Buttons”. I was determined to find a way to tell it as it was so no one else ever had to feel as frightened, lost and cut off from the world as I did. After five years of working on the book I gave the manuscript to a literary agent and within a week I was a Penguin author (but I still couldn't do up my buttons properly!) Over the past eight years, since the book came out I've been inundated with contact from people with brain injury, their families, friends, carers and those in the medical profession and the general reader, to say how helpful the book has been. I'm so grateful that the book has brought understanding and been like a key to help to unlock the prison of broken minds, hearts and dreams of brain injury and also brought information, explanation encouragement and hope. After several reprinting the books was out of print for the past four years and people were constantly contacting me to try to get a copy of the book . In February this year a young man, Harry Troedel, who'd suffered a brain injury, contacted me to obtain a copy of “Doing Up Buttons” to give his friends so t“hey'd understand.” After hearing that the book was out of print Harry emailed me stating he was determined to get it reprinted to be given out free of charge to the attendees at the 6th World Congress on Brain Injury, held in Melbourne in May. Harry made phone calls and several organizations gave us small grants and I put in the rest of the money and the book was reprinted in time for the Congress. It was wonderful to give away the book and represent, and give voice to all survivors of brain injury. I have discovered so many things about living with brain injury that triumph = try + umph and that pigs can fly! I still sometimes catch a glance of myself in a shop window with my buttons done up incorrectly but outward appearances don't matter so much anymore. So what, I say to myself. I've discovered that it's much more important to 'button' up your self - put your life together - and 'unbutton your lips' to help and support others than simply do up buttons. Doing Up Buttons can be ordered through HISNZ. Christine is happy to autograph her book on request Special Price for HISNZ Other Books Available
Members: $12.00
My Way Ahead: My Story Head'N Tread |
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