Edinburgh Headway Group
Mark is aiming to raise £25,000 for the Edinburgh Headway Group through various forms of media coverage and fundraising events taking place in the build up to the proposed May 1st start date.
Below is a letter from Bill Bryden, director of the Edinburgh Headway Group, explaining a little more about the charity and how grateful he is for Mark's help.
Mark is aiming to raise £25,000 for the Edinburgh Headway Group through various forms of media coverage and fundraising events taking place in the build up to the proposed May 1st start date.
Below is a letter from Bill Bryden, director of the Edinburgh Headway Group, explaining a little more about the charity and how grateful he is for Mark's help.
As a co-founder and currently a Director of Edinburgh Headway Group I am delighted to commend Mark Cooper's planned fundraising run.
We are a small, Edinburgh charity registered with OSCR (No.SCO06528) and the Care Commission.
Since 1982 we have been providing support to people who have suffered a head injury or some other form of acquired brain injury such as a stroke. Over 40 people attend Headway House (based in the grounds of the Astley Ainslie Hospital in Edinburgh) each week.
Others are helped by our Befriending Project which provides trained volunteers to encourage and help brain injured people back into the community to enjoy the simple, social pleasures they have lost since their injury. We also support relatives who care for them.
The Befriending Project is funded by the City of Edinburgh Council on an annual basis and we receive a grant from Lothian Health but we rely heavily on donations and fundraising to provide most of the running costs despite having a small staff and an army of volunteers (who provide more than 9000 hours a year).
We are very grateful to Mark for the tremendous efforts he (and his team) are putting into this venture, and would like to assure everyone that the funds raised by Mark will be vitally important in enabling us to continue with our aim to improve the quality of life and develop the potential of our many brain injured members and their families.
Bill Bryden
Director, Edinburgh Headway Group
We are a small, Edinburgh charity registered with OSCR (No.SCO06528) and the Care Commission.
Since 1982 we have been providing support to people who have suffered a head injury or some other form of acquired brain injury such as a stroke. Over 40 people attend Headway House (based in the grounds of the Astley Ainslie Hospital in Edinburgh) each week.
Others are helped by our Befriending Project which provides trained volunteers to encourage and help brain injured people back into the community to enjoy the simple, social pleasures they have lost since their injury. We also support relatives who care for them.
The Befriending Project is funded by the City of Edinburgh Council on an annual basis and we receive a grant from Lothian Health but we rely heavily on donations and fundraising to provide most of the running costs despite having a small staff and an army of volunteers (who provide more than 9000 hours a year).
We are very grateful to Mark for the tremendous efforts he (and his team) are putting into this venture, and would like to assure everyone that the funds raised by Mark will be vitally important in enabling us to continue with our aim to improve the quality of life and develop the potential of our many brain injured members and their families.
Bill Bryden
Director, Edinburgh Headway Group
Fraser's story
My name is Fraser.
26 years ago, I was involved in a fairly catastrophic road traffic accident; when I was 24 and had only been married for 5 months.
A farm worker driving a tractor in the opposite direction decided he would turn right! (Directly across my own direction of travel.) As a result, he then struck the front of my vehicle. Despite the fact that I was travelling at less than 40 mph, I was flung over the top of my seatbelt and my head struck the inside of my windscreen. As a result, I ended up in a deep coma. (Which I suffered for almost four weeks.) As a result, I lost between 35 - 40% of my brain tissue.
After recovering from my coma, I had to relearn how to walk and found that I now suffered from multiple severe headaches. (3 Ð 4 migraine type, daily.) I also suffer from severe memory loss. (Both short and long term.) I also suffer from severe double vision and short sightedness, so as a consequence I have to wear glasses with a frosted less to cut out the vision from my weaker left eye.
As a result of my complete change of character, my marriage only lasted a further two years before I ended up being divorced. So after that, I moved to Edinburgh in order to be near my older brother. Thankfully, after a short period of time, I was directed to the Edinburgh Headway group. (EHG)
There, I was given a tremendous level of support and assistance; where I was helped to learn how to cope with my situation and circumstances. I have to admit, EHG is a place and a group of people that provided me somewhere to go and learn how to live again and improve my condition. Without them, I would probably not still be here.
Fraser
26 years ago, I was involved in a fairly catastrophic road traffic accident; when I was 24 and had only been married for 5 months.
A farm worker driving a tractor in the opposite direction decided he would turn right! (Directly across my own direction of travel.) As a result, he then struck the front of my vehicle. Despite the fact that I was travelling at less than 40 mph, I was flung over the top of my seatbelt and my head struck the inside of my windscreen. As a result, I ended up in a deep coma. (Which I suffered for almost four weeks.) As a result, I lost between 35 - 40% of my brain tissue.
After recovering from my coma, I had to relearn how to walk and found that I now suffered from multiple severe headaches. (3 Ð 4 migraine type, daily.) I also suffer from severe memory loss. (Both short and long term.) I also suffer from severe double vision and short sightedness, so as a consequence I have to wear glasses with a frosted less to cut out the vision from my weaker left eye.
As a result of my complete change of character, my marriage only lasted a further two years before I ended up being divorced. So after that, I moved to Edinburgh in order to be near my older brother. Thankfully, after a short period of time, I was directed to the Edinburgh Headway group. (EHG)
There, I was given a tremendous level of support and assistance; where I was helped to learn how to cope with my situation and circumstances. I have to admit, EHG is a place and a group of people that provided me somewhere to go and learn how to live again and improve my condition. Without them, I would probably not still be here.
Fraser