For most of her life, Patricia was an active, independent person. Always on the go, she worked and raised her family, making the most of each day. When she suffered an acquired brain injury in 2023, her life completely changed.
In February 2025, after an extended stay in hospital, Patricia joined us at our specialist brain injury rehabilitation service Devonshire House. At first, she had many support needs, requiring 2-1 support in every area of her life. Trying to adapt to a new way of life, her emotional wellbeing suffered. She was unable to see herself overcoming the needs her injury left her with, and thought she’d reached the limit of her recovery. Bravely building acceptance around her new life, she settled into Devonshire House. But our team knew that, deep down, she wanted to return home to her family.
With gentle encouragement and tailored therapies, they knew they could help her rediscover her motivation and work towards her goal of going home. With just a few short months of specialist support, Patricia started moving forward with her life in a positive way. She found her flow with her rehab and made rapid progress.
Now, she’s preparing to move back home to her family – something she didn’t think would ever be possible.
Life-changing event
Before suffering her brain injury, Patricia lived with her long-term partner. Over the years, their family grew as they welcomed each of their three children. A close, supportive family, they were always there for each other when times were tough.
One day, when Patricia collapsed at home, she needed her family’s support more than ever.
Patricia suffered a brain aneurysm. With a bleed on her brain, her life was in danger. Immediately taken to hospital, she underwent two operations to stop the bleed – but this was just the start of a long journey.
The extent of her injury meant she also needed a craniectomy, where part of her skull was removed to prevent her brain swelling. After 17 days in intensive care, Patricia had more procedures to support the physical needs her brain injury left her with. She’d lost use of the muscles in her throat and had a percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) tube fitted. This helped her take in important nutrients to help her body heal. In September 2023, she had her final surgeries, but her journey was far from over.
Patricia’s needs were still extensive. Her PEG tube was eventually removed but she had dysphagia, meaning she still had difficulties swallowing and needed a modified diet. Her mobility was also severely affected.
Because Patricia needed high levels of daily support, it wasn’t practical for her to return home immediately. So, when it was time for her to leave the hospital, her family knew they needed to find a home where her needs would be met, and her independence nurtured.
Joining Devonshire House
When Patricia joined us at Devonshire House, she was welcomed by her warm, compassionate team, and soon settled in with her other housemates. Requiring 2-1 support for all daily living tasks, our team helped her with transfers, activities, and accessing the community. Using person-centred support, they ensured her care was delivered in a way that suited her, and she was at the heart of making decisions about her support.
Now living with dysphagia and eating a modified diet, our team worked with Patricia to create meal choices based around safe foods that she enjoyed. Her speech had also been affected by her injury. She didn’t often verbally communicate and, when she did, her voice was quiet. Our team suspected her confidence might be low.
Engaging Patricia with therapies tailored to her physical and emotional needs, they identified she was struggling to believe she could rehabilitate further than she already had. She wanted to return home to her family but couldn’t see herself ever being able to do that because of her needs.
But our team at Devonshire House knew Patricia had the potential to return home – she just needed specialist emotional support to help her believe in herself.
Over time, our expert team gently encouraged her to attend clinician-led therapy sessions tailored to her unique needs. Using a functional, person-centred approach, our team weaved therapeutic exercises into everyday activities. So, therapy was a normal part of life for Patricia, continuing outside her weekly sessions. With progress happening in a more natural way, Patricia started to see how well she was doing!
Positive steps forward
When Patricia was discharged from hospital, one of the reasons she couldn’t return to her family home immediately was the support she needed transferring and mobilising. Understanding this as a factor that would help Patricia return home, our team established a plan to support her to develop her mobility.
Patricia realised she wanted to go home; she started to see Devonshire House as a temporary home while she recovered. She approached her therapy with enthusiasm, so she could make the amazing gains that would help her return home.
Jessica Thomas, Therapy Lead, Devonshire House
Gradually engaging more with her tailored therapy sessions, Patricia started to improve her transfers. In these sessions, she also worked on other independent daily living tasks, like making her own lunch. Patricia’s confidence was building up more each day. Soon, she was doing so well with her transfers, this was handed over from her therapy team to her support team. It wasn’t long until she only needed 1-1 support with transfers. Suddenly, her life was changing again, and her perspective started to shift.
Other things started to change for Patricia. She made massive progress with her rehabilitation – including improving her dysphagia and speech – and started standing independently. Finding her feet, this marked a huge moment for Patricia. She was inspired to start making even bigger strides towards a future at home with her family!
Greatest goal
With specialist support, things started falling into place for Patricia. Even though she was reaching milestones in her rehab, our team understood this was still a journey for her, and ups and downs would happen. To support her to stay motivated and maintain her confidence, Jess – our dedicated Therapy Lead at Devonshire House – created a timeline of Patricia’s journey so far. From when she first suffered her brain injury in 2023, up until the present day, Patricia could clearly see her incredible progress!
Just the inspiration she needed to keep moving forward with her rehab, Patricia became more determined than ever to return home to her loving family.
Everyone is so proud of Patricia, and she’ll be missed at Devonshire House. She makes everyone’s day brighter – she lights up every room!
Jessica Thomas, Therapy Lead, Devonshire House
Home for Christmas
Now, that goal is growing closer each day. With the progress Patricia has made, returning home has shifted from a distant hope to a real possibility. Our team at Devonshire House are now working with her to prepare for discharge – Patricia’s hoping to be home by Christmas!
They’re busy working with community-based teams to ensure Patricia’s home is adapted to meet her needs. And Patricia’s continuing to work on all her daily support and therapy goals, including standing on her own for longer periods of time. Understanding how important this is to Patricia, our team are continuing to collaborate with her therapists, so she can reach this goal.
The heart of her family
Since joining us, Patricia has overcome emotional and physical hurdles on her rehabilitation journey. From the moment she suffered a sudden, life-changing brain injury to planning to return home to her family, she’s shown strength, resilience and determination.
Even in moments where she’d lost her confidence and couldn’t see her own progress, she bravely built acceptance around her new life. But with our compassionate team supporting her and reassuring her returning home was possible, she realised she could reshape her destiny.
With ongoing, community-based support being put in place, Patricia’s now preparing to return home to her family, so she can re-establish her life as the heart of her family.
Our life-changing brain injury support
Visit our dedicated webpage to learn more about how our specialist approach to brain injury support could help you or a loved one.