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My name is Stephen. Before my wife's accident, my family and I were not aware that ABIOS existed. Then suddenly my wife of seven days, Kelly, was involved in an accident in which she sustained head injuries. When I finally got my wife home to our farm, several weeks after being discharged from hospital, my father and I started to realise that Kelly was different. She was not able to remember things and found it very difficult to do small tasks on her own without getting flustered and fatigued.
My father found out about ABIOS and then contacted them and they rang me and organised an assessment at the Brain Injury Clinic at the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane. Being from the country it was very daunting for us to go to Brisbane for the assessment but ABIOS gave us all the directions we needed and organised everything for the appointment which alleviated a lot of stress. ABIOS came with us to the assessment and it was then decided that Kelly would need to stay in Brisbane to attend rehabilitation.
We had not intended on staying in Brisbane for very long and since the accident, had exhausted most of our savings. ABIOS then stepped in and organised through Centrelink for us to get financial help. Due to my wife's injuries, she could not remember where any of our bank account information and documents were and thanks to ABIOS cutting all the red tape with Centrelink, we were able to get financial help. However, if I had to do this myself, I would have found it very difficult and nearly impossible.
After our time in Brisbane, ABIOS have been in contact with my family and I on a regular basis and are always there to answer any questions we have had and put things into perspective for us, as we did not understand the drastic changes in Kelly. My wife had gone from being a very independent, outgoing person and was not quite happy to live in the mountains on our farm by herself with no contact with the outside world. With the help we have received from both ABIOS and my family Kelly is now enjoying life a lot more than she did six months ago.
At times, I have been very confused with things Kelly has said or done but one phone call to ABIOS reassures me that it is normal and that everything is fine. For example, I had been trying to get Kelly to go to a psychologist to help her cope with the changes in herself and I was getting nowhere with this. ABIOS have talked to her and explained that she needs to go and talk to someone as a release for the anger and frustration that she feels due to what has happened to her and now, thanks to them, she is quite happy to go to the psychologist. Quite frankly, without the original phone call and all the support we have received from ABIOS I have no idea how Kelly and I would be coping today. Thank you ABIOS for everything you have done.
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