Trish is in her 50s and suffering from MS. She has been in a nursing home for 5 years but strongly believes that this is not the right place for her. The Irish Nation’s most popular telephone / phone-in show, Liveline, today took up her plight. “Talk-to-Joe’ Duffy, the presenter, asked whether there was anyone not turned 50 who has been in a nursing home for 5 years.

His researchers remembered Pádraig’s story and An Saol and gave me a call, and the opportunity to “Talk to Joe” on national radio about the scandal of the abandonment of young people with severe acquired brain injury in nursing homes without adequate support, therapies, or social environment – as well as sharing the good news of the approval by the Minister of Health and the HSE of our proposed pilot project.

The Northside People are reporting on the approval by the Government and the HSE of the An Saol 3-year pilot project establishing a day centre for persons with a severe acquired brain injury in their newest edition of 01 March 2017, on page 5, in an article written by Terence Flanagan.

Pádraig keeps braking his own personal bests (PBs) almost on a daily basis. Sitting in his wheelchair, he is now able of keeping his legs lifted up in the air for longer than his carers can. Today, he has started to turn his head to the right – previously, he could turn it only to the left. He smiles more often and really seems to engage much better than ever before with what is going on around him.

The biggest challenge now is to keep making life and living really interesting for him, with challenges he can overcome and milestones he can reach. Getting him to participate more, telling us what he wants and what his opinions are.

To express his consciousness.