Pembrokeshire Sports person, Kristian Speake continues to make exceptional progress in his rehabilitation following an incident in February this year which resulted in traumatic brain injury.
Kristian was in a coma in the critical care unit at the Heath Hospital for 24 days. After which he spent nearly five weeks on their Neurological ward, form there he was transferred to a specialist Neurological Rehabilitation Unit in Neath for a further 6 weeks undergoing intensive therapy.
At the Neurological Rehabilitation Unit, Kristian had to learn to walk again and learn to carry out daily self-care tasks.
Returning back home, Kristian developed and progressed through rehabilitation plans, he has worked incredibly hard at developing fitness both in his own time and at SAW. Although some areas of his health will take a continued amount of time to improve, he has progressed at an astonishing rate since being discharged from Hospital.
The team of volunteers at SAW are unbelievably impressed with his determination and focus to return to good health and fitness.
“I can remember Kristian’s first session at the centre following his discharge from the rehabilitation unit. Our aim as a team of volunteer coaches was to provide Kristian with the utmost support and develop activities gradually. In his first few sessions, Kristian managed to squat the technical bar, which weigh’s 5kg, but needed to be guided and physically supported through the exercise, due to decreased levels of balance, coordination, spatial awareness, vision and lack of muscle responsiveness. Over the past months, his strength levels, co-ordination and confidence has improved dramatically, being now able to perform a wide variety of conditioning exercises, well-balanced and with good amounts of resistance. I still can’t believe how far he has progressed at his rehabilitation and I am overwhelmed with Kristian’s total focus and ability to overcome such traumatic injuries, he is a real inspiration.”
Simon Roach, Pembrokeshire Weightlifting
From all the members and volunteers at SAW, we wish Kristian continued success in developing his health and well-being.
