Second day at the airport. This time it’s evening, I am tired, overwhelmed, and exhausted, and I am waiting for the flight back to Hamburg. Pat went back last night and told me that she was told that Pádraig had had a good day, in fact a ‘bombastic’ day, when we were not there (how’s that possible, I ask myself:). But, of course, what a relieve it was for us that all went fine. There have been so many disasters, shocks and frights over the past months, out of nowhere, unannounced, that neither of us being with him, even the idea of neither of us being with him, if something should happen, made me almost physically sick. It’s probably hard to imagine, I know,  I wouldn’t have been able to imagine what it feels like up to last summer. Now this fear is a reality.

Yesterday’s visit with Pat to the Therapy Centre in Burgau was really worthwhile. It is an outstanding example of how a tragedy, the accident of a young woman, and the reaction of her father, changed the life of hundreds of people. 25 years ago, when the Centre opened, neuro-rehab was not something that was on the radar of the German Health System. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Burgau made a huge contribution to change the way people, politicians, and insurance companies looked at acquired brain injuries. Burgau proved that people with brain injuries did not belong into the ‘hospital for the incurables’, as they were called in England. Therapies were developed and treatment plans established that even today are seen as exemplary.

Today, I visited another centre, this time in Pforzheim, the Zentrum der Therapie. This is a private therapy centre. It’s run by a couple, both with many years of experience. This place is buzzing with activity and looks like as if it was constantly changing. The energy and enthusiasm of the two owners is visible anywhere. They offer periods of 3-6 weeks of really intensive therapy with daily sessions of up to six hours, supported by two or at times even three therapists per patient. They use the most modern equipment to mobilise patients, including patients with acquired brain injuries. Their centre attracts patients even from outside of Germany. It’s much smaller than Burgau and, in contrast to Burgau, they do not have any doctors and only very few nurses on their staff. All the emphasis here is on therapy and it is the therapists who are in charge.

Seeing, over the past two days, what is possible. Hearing the success stories of so many brain injured people who ‘normal’ hospitals had given up on and who doctors had written off. Knowing that this still needs to penetrate and trickle through the German system. Getting really sad and angry at the same time knowing that Ireland does not offer its brain injured people the necessary care and therapy – made me more determined than ever to work hard to make An Saol a reality. Will you join me?