Photograph: PeopleImages.com/Getty ImagesOccupational therapy can help people who have suffered an injury.
Photograph: PeopleImages.com/Getty Images
The day an occupational therapist changed my life
This article is more than 7 years oldPeople tell their stories of how their life was turned around by the help and support from an occupational therapist
Martin Bennetto, 52
“In December 2010 I was rushed to hospital with a brain haemorrhage. I was in there for two weeks and came out on new year’s eve. I thought I’d soon be ready to go back to work, but when my OT came to interview me, I fell asleep as she was talking to me. She gave me tools to stop the fatigue setting in. Just 10 or 15 minutes’ meditation, even in a noisy room, and I get my energy back and am ready to go again.
“It was six months before she finally said: ‘You’re fit to go to work now.’ It was a sad day when she said she was totally discharging me, because I was losing that safe place. I didn’t think occupational therapy would help somebody like me. It’s such an eye-opener. I can never thank her enough.”
Mike Kerr, 33
“I was on holiday 16 years ago and I dived into a swimming pool, not realising it was the shallow end. I hit my head on the bottom and broke my neck. I spent 10 months in hospital in Glasgow, where I received occupational therapy. It was just learning to do things with the limited mobility I had in my hands – picking things up, fastening buttons, dressing myself, the things you take for granted.
“Before my accident, sport was my main interest. While I was at the unit, I was able to use the hydrotherapy pool and take part in sports days.
“When I came out I took up wheelchair rugby and competed in the 2012 Paralympics. If it wasn’t for the OTs, I would never have had the opportunity.”
Esther Rutledge, 80
“I had my fall after stepping on the worktop in my kitchen to reach the meter, which is in a high cupboard, and landed on my shoulder, fracturing my humerus. The specialist from the fracture clinic decided it needed to be pinned and have a plate put in.
“Once back at home, I had an OT from the re-ablement team come in and see me twice a day for a week, and then in the mornings for a week after that. They helped with the dressing, and I also had to have help with drying my feet and back. It was not only a help in the practical sense but a pleasure to know someone was coming in. We joked and got on. It was invaluable.”
Maria Selby, 65
“I’ve had a double lung transplant. Last year, I was told about a new choir called Singing 4 Breathing, for people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), run by OT students at Northampton University, so I went along to find out what it was all about. There are 50 of us, we meet weekly and sing a mix of folk and pop songs. The teacher has taught us how to breathe when singing. It makes you feel so happy and joyful. I never knew I could sing a tune. It’s so amazing when you think you can’t speak because you have COPD, and yet you can sing.”
Joe Levelle, 34, and his son Tom
“Our son Tom suffered a huge brain injury when he was born. About 40% of the left side of his brain had been damaged. We were told he would find certain things very challenging, especially speech, high-capacity functions and movement.
“We met Anne Gordon, who manages the OT team at Evelina London children’s hospital, when Tom was six months old. Tom would never grab anything with his right hand, so Anne suggested using constraint-induced movement therapy, which meant restricting his left hand, forcing him to use his right hand.
“Tom’s right hand is still affected, but he can now grab a ball with both hands, and hold a cup – things that other people would think is not that big a deal, but for us it’s absolutely massive.”
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