Catherine Cook
London Landmarks Half Marathon for SameYou 2022
Fundraising for SameYou
Story
Thank you for taking the time to visit my Just Giving page. For those that don't know, my mum (Mimi) sadly passed away in August of this year following a long battle with a brain injury. She suffered a life-changing stroke in June 2018 (when she was 53) after being diagnosed with a very rare vasculitis. This initially left her paralysed on one side and unable to communicate. Luckily her speech and weakness slowly improved over the following weeks and months, thanks to the help and support from our local hospital's amazing doctors and therapy teams. She became almost completely physically independent, but cognitively she really struggled with the after-effects of such a significant event. Her personality started to change and she had difficulty communicating, which was incredibly frustrating for her, and this also impacted her mental health hugely.
SameYou and it's values mean a lot to me and my family, as we have realised through this experience that the recovery can be long, and that there is often little support for survivors of this (often devastating) condition. I think it is really important to raise awareness of brain injury and the rehabilitation process, and to give people a chance to speak up and share their stories.
My mum was such an active, healthy, happy person prior to her stroke, and she always really enjoyed running. Thank you in advance to everyone who decides to donate to this amazing cause, very close to my heart.
Catherine xx
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SameYou's purpose is for brain injury survivors to feel they haven't lost the person they were before. When your brain is injured, it is called an Acquired Brain Injury (ABI). ABI is primarily made up of stroke, brain tumour and traumatic brain injury (where sudden trauma to the brain is caused by external force such as a fall, sports concussion or road traffic accident).It's estimated that nearly 1 in 3 people will have an Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) at some point in their life. Reports say that more than 135 million worldwide are living with brain injury. This is an underestimate of the scale of the problem due to the lack of focus on brain injury.You will know someone with a brain injury at some point, and they will not receive the care they need.
