Phillip Cooper

Philip Cooper 16^th March 2004

Hi my name is Philip Cooper. I live in a place between Kidderminster and the Black Country. I was born in 1972 with a condition called Hydrocephalus, which was caused by an intercranial cyst. I had to have a shunt fitted and the cyst punctured, as it could not be removed due to its position. All of this was not diagnosed until 1993, although I suffered from bad headaches and mood swings most of my life. I sort of adjusted to this as well as I could and just kept running on 3 cylinders.

On Monday 29^th July 1996 I was taking my uncle, who has a learning difficulty, to have his hair cut. As I was walking with him in Halesowen I heard a woman calling out for someone to help her, so as not to get involved too much I called out to the man who was assaulting her to leave her alone. He left her and started running down the hill towards my uncle and me. It all seemed to happen so quickly and I could not get away. Next thing I knew I was waking up in Russells Hall Hospital. The Doctors told me that a man in his thirties had attacked me and had punched me in the stomach. I had then fallen to the ground which caused me to hit my head against the curb where I sustained an injury to the back of my head, which needed several stitches. I stayed in hospital for a few days and then I was discharged. A few days later I was re-admitted with suspected meningitis and had to stay in hospital for another three weeks. I was then discharged and once more started to readjust to life again.

Time went by, and then in 1997 I went on holiday to Ireland with a group called 4-wheel travel. It was at the beginning of the holiday, during the night that I had a terrible pain in my head and my stomach. A doctor was called and I was taken into Cork General Hospital where they did an operation to try and fix my shunt, which was blocked - this is called a revision. I then came out of Hospital and had to take things very easy until we came home. However when we were travelling towards Dublin my vision deteriorated and I had more pain in my head and stomach. I was rushed into Dublin Hospital where they did an operation to replace part of my shunt. I stayed in hospital for a week and my Mother flew out to be with me. I then came home and recuperated once more.

In 1998 I had another operation which is called a Third Ventriculostomy as my neurosurgeon thought that it would be a better option and that it would mean not having to have a shunt and all the problems which go with this procedure. The existing shunt was left in place just in case it was needed. All went well until May 2003 when I was visiting a friend and was coming out of an outbuilding when I hit my head with quite a force and fell to the ground. I got up and ten minutes later carried on as normal. A few days went by and I still didn't feel right so I decided to go and get checked out at the Hospital. I was admitted, given a thorough overhaul and was told that everything was ok. But in September 2003 I was woken in the night with severe pain in my stomach and head. I went to the Doctors in the morning and she sent me straight to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, where they removed my shunt, which had become infected, and put a drain in. It took four weeks before they could put a total replacement shunt in. I stayed in hospital for another week and then was discharged.

It was about November 2003 that I started attending Headway Black Country and this has given me a new lease of life and a sense of purpose. I don't know where I would be without the support and help of Headway. It has meant a great deal to me meeting other people in a similar situation to myself. I would especially like to thank everyone at Headway Black Country for all the help and support they have given me to help me learn about and cope with my brain injury.

Philip Cooper.

[Home] [Headway Origins] [Services] [Frequent Quest'ns] [Brain Injury Expl.] [Fundraising] [Volunteering] [Personal Stories] [Personal Story 1] [Personal Story 2] [Personal Story 3] [Personal Story 4] [Personal Story 5] [The Gallery] [Links] [Contact Us]