My name is Scott Wilson. I am 32 years old. In 1993 I was 16 and a passenger in a car accident that resulted in a severe brain injury. I was in a coma for a number of weeks and when I woke up I had to relearn everything, from swallowing to walking and talking. Eventually, I was well enough to go to rehab and then go home. I had a problem with vocabulary retrieval ( I knew what I wanted to say but couldn’t find the correct words) but could speak and write. After a year I was able to return to school and finish my grade 11 and 12.
Over the next 14 years with a lot of work and with the help of therapists, friends and family I was able to achieve 2 or my 3 goals. My goals were to work in the family business, move out and live on my own and get my driver’s licence.
In August of 2006, I bought my first apartment and moved in on my own. I also returned to work part-time and was living independently for the first time. The following year I started a new program that involved new medication. Unfortunately, it didn’t agree with my body and I collapsed at home and was found by a friend in a coma.
Again I was in a coma for many weeks, when I became conscious this time to my horror I found I couldn’t speak, write, walk or swallow. I knew what I wanted to say but could not get the words out. I had to relearn everything. When I was well enough to be transferred to GF Strong I started a rehab program that involved speech, physiotherapy and occupational therapy. Unfortunately, I fell and broke my hip, this was a long time being diagnosed as I couldn’t express my pain well enough. Because I could not speak or write I found it extremely frustrating and depressing and learned to communicate with the aid of an alphabet board. This was a great tool but very slow and I could only address 1 person at a time and they had to be able to read what I was trying to say.
A speech therapist Anne put my name forward for a computerized device, however, I did not qualify at that time as I was too old for the program. Through the efforts of CAYA and GF Strong, I went to Victoria with a group of people from CAYA to address a group of MLAs and their associates. We were successful in getting the age limited increased and I was given a “Lightwriter” I found this great and easy to use and with the help of the CAYA program got the support I needed to learn how to use it and how to program it to suit my needs.
This was a real breakthrough for me. I could be part of group conversations and also speak for myself in restaurants, stores and over the telephone. Because I could pre-program a lot of everyday phrases I was able to speed up my part of conversations. This helped me build up my confidence in being around groups and people I didn’t know well.
My speech is slowly coming back but I feel that it was helped immensely by the ability to use the device and participate in aphasia groups with the support of therapists and people from CAYA. This was not available in 1993 and I really appreciate it now and feel it was very instrumental in helping me toward my recovery.