Two women whose family members suffered massive brain injury are working tirelessly to help others in the same plight. Lucy Richardson reports

THREE days before her fourth birthday, Abbie Thornton’s life was changed forever. A walk with her teenage brother near their home in Coulby Newham, Middlesbrough, ended in horror when the little girl was run over.

She died at the scene, but was resuscitated and has gone on to make an amazing recovery. And more than a dozen years later, her determined mother, is still making sure there is support for others in the same situation the Thornton family found themselves in.

“When you leave hospital after an acquired brain injury, there’s very little support out there for either the survivor or their family,” says Debra, a trustee of the national charity Headway, which aims to fill this gap.

Debra knows first-hand how valuable its services are and is thrilled the charity will be able to reach out to more brain injury survivors and their families after moving into a new headquarters at Mowden Park Rugby Club. The Northern Echo Arena is now home to Headway Darlington & District, which helps people across County Durham, Teesside and North Yorkshire.

After the accident, paramedics told Debra and her husband Tony that their youngest child had died at the scene. Abbie was resuscitated before her heart stopped beating again in the ambulance and the couple were warned to expect the worst.

Bolts were inserted into Abbie’s head to relieve pressure on her brain and she was slowly weaned off life-support, but her parents were told that, although she would survive, she would never walk or talk again.

Debra says she refused to accept that diagnosis and, thankfully, her optimism was proved right. After three or four months of intensive rehabilitation Abbie said her first word and went on to learn to skip and ride her bike. Now 16, she left Polam Hall school in Darlington this summer and is at college training to become a hairdresser.

From its new meeting room with views over the rugby pitch, the innovative charity gets members involved in cycling and walking groups. Vice chairperson Jean Martin Savage, a chartered psychologist with more than 20 years experience, who reached the final in Headway’s national awards for volunteer of the year, also designs and delivers one-to-one rehabilitation programmes.

“We’re thrilled to have a new base at the rugby club and our aim is to offer our services to other charities across the region as well as opening our own centre five days a week,” says management consultant Debra.

The mother-of-four is working closely with the branch’s acting chairwoman, Nicola Hughes, whose husband sustained a traumatic brain injury in 2011. The women are using their extensive business experience to drive the charity forward and want to offer the services they have developed to other organisations.

“If Headway was not here, many members would be living in an institution rather than at home,” says Debra. “Brain injuries are unpredictable: one day everything is fine, the next day it’s not, so you never know. We’re going to build Abbie a hair salon in our home so she’ll have flexibility, but still be able to work and have independence. The complexities are huge.

“We laugh and we cry with families because we know exactly what they’re going through and we help rebuild all of their lives.”

Headway Darlington & District, headwaydarlington.org.uk; tel 01325-376444; or email info@headwaydarlington.org.uk