“The light at the end of the tunnel is the light of an oncoming train.” One of my favourite cynical jokes.
Here is some real light at the end of the tunnel. Here is what I am planning to send to people to see the light at the end of the tunnel, the light that means life. Let me know what you think.
An Saol
Our son Pádraig had just turned 23 and finished college, when he was hit by a 4.3 ton van on 27 June 2013 as he cycled to work on Cape Cod, where he had planned to spend the summer on a J1 visa.
He acquired a very severe brain injury and has been in a coma ever since. From one second to the next, his life and ours had changed dramatically.
When we brought him home from the US to Ireland, we discovered that there was no place where he could receive adequate and timely neurological rehabilitation care and therapy. We were told that caring for patients with severe brain injuries is a costly long-term commitment, and one that was not provided by the Irish Health Care system. We learned that patients like Pádraig were kept in inadequate acute hospital wards or in nursing homes for the elderly, where this stay was normally interrupted only by a once-off and short-term care and therapy stay in the National Rehabilitation Hospital (NRH) in Dun Laoghaire.
In desperation, we moved Pádraig to Germany where we found a working and established system that was responsive and supportive. We learned that patients such as Pádraig and their families can be offered the care, the therapies, and the support they need in a dignified and respectful environment. We learned that it is possible and necessary to provide adequate and timely support for patients such as Pádraig. We became acutely aware that all societies have a duty of care and an obligation to look after their most vulnerable members; because a devastating brain injury does not change or lessen the value and the rights of that person.
This is why we have decided to establish An Saol, a house where young people with severe and very severe acquired brain injuries can be cared for and receive all adequate and reasonable care and therapies they require. These patients will not have to be in an acute hospital for prolonged periods of time when that is not necessary, and they will not have to be moved to nursing homes mainly catering for the elderly.
An Saol will offer, in addition to a small, possibly 6-10-bed facility for in-patients, day-care and out-patient neurological rehabilitation and care, especially for younger patients with severe brain injuries. We will prepare a viable business plan for An Saol, try to get the support of all relevant government offices and agencies, as well as the relevant interest groups. Our aim is to open An Saol on 01 January 2016.
Pádraig was fine today, some visitors from my German family came up from a small village near Münster. It was really nice to see how he connected with them, how he visibly and undoubtedly communicated with them. So present, so alert. While he was not in the wheelchair, he was sitting up in his bed, almost like in an armchair. Most of the day, from 9am to around 7pm, he managed without additional oxygen.
Tomorrow is, of course, his birthday. It’s also Father’s Day in Germany. And it’s Ascension Thursday (Ascension Sunday in a few days in Ireland:). Even in thoroughly protestant Hamburg it’s a public holiday, with all shops closed, and a day off for most.
Today’s German Music Tip
Revolverheld, Ich lass für Dich das Licht an – the song all radio stations play all day long in Hamburg. Tonight, I watched the video for the first time. Wenn wir nachts nach Hause gehen, die Lippen rot vom Rotwein… youth, love, future. Sadness.
What’s hot
Light
What’s cold
Darkness
The German word/phrase/verse of the day
Mensch, mir ist ein Licht aufgegangen!
Hospi-Tales 
I think An Saol is a wonderful idea and will wholeheartedly support such an endeavour in whatever way I can.
Thank you, Paula. First thing to do: tell everybody about it and let everybody know what we’re going to do! – Reinhard
“An saol”, google translated me “life”, short but strong word.
My question is : why only young patients and what mean young patients ? Why 6-10 beds ? Perhaps people should ask the question (i know you have a statistical reason and you can explain them).
Hope I will not hurt you but what I think also is that you have enough material in this blog hospi-tales, enough interesting subjects you think about, clever enough, your story touching enough falling in sentimentality, privacy of padraig enough preserved, to publish a book, a book that will help you to spray your project.
Thank you Reinhard for your rare courage, for An Saol, for your the example you give us. Go on ! Stand up with Padraig ! Everybody ! 😉
Add : “Without” falling in sentimentality
Hello, Reinhard. All my very best wishes on Pádraig‘s birthday, a day you would so much wish to celebrate in happier circumstances. I know that you will nonetheless be glad to be with him and to support him even more than usual (that‘s actually not possible because more than 100% doesn’t exist!) today. With best wishes Louise.
Happy Birthday Pádraig!
Congratulations also to Pat and you, Reinhard because 24 years ago you became parents of a precious boy! And what a coincidence, Reinhard, Happy Father’s Day! You’d better not tell people how that is celebrated in Germany.
I told Pat how Father’s Day is celebrated in Germany. Her response was that it sounded pretty irresponsible. I said, maybe they don’t do it like this anymore – just a minute later a group of men pushed a sofa and a shopping trolley with a beer keg across the street. Seems that some things don’t change:) – Reinhard
Felicidades for all the good news and conmemorations. I thing your propousal of An Saol is absolutely great and we will in our means. Please let us know what we can do do support better An Saol. Muchos besos y abrazos a todos- todos
Thank you, Ana! If it catches on, if it catches the imagination, if a 1,000 people support it – An Saol will happen! And – wouldn’t it be wonderful? Muchos besos, aún más abrazos!
Fantastic! You will have plenty of help – just tell us what you need! Breithlá shona to Pádraig – and Happy Father’s Day. Thanks to Gisela, I now want to know how it is celebrated in Germany!! Póg agus barróg, Siobhán
Well, the first step, Siobhán, is to tell everybody about what is going to happen and to get their support. We need you, your family and friends, and their families and friends and …. to make this happen. We will need their advice, their expertise, their experience, their time, their enthusiasm. We will never be able to do this alone! More to come! – Reinhard