Rebuilding Life after Brain Injury

by Sheena McDonald, Allan Little, Gail Robinson

Rebuilding Life after Brain Injury: Dreamtalk tells the survival story of Sheena McDonald, who in 1999 was hit by a police van and suffered a very severe brain injury. Sheena’s story is told from her own, personal standpoint and also from two further unique and invaluable perspectives. Allan Little, a BBC journalist and now Sheena’s husband, describes both the physical and mental impact of the injury on himself and on Sheena. Gail Robinson, Sheena’s neuropsychological rehabilitation specialist, provides professional commentaries on Sheena’s condition, assessment and recovery process. The word Dreamtalk , created by Allan to describe Sheena’s once "hallucinogenic state", sets the tone for this book. It humanises and contextualises the impact of brain injury, providing support and encouragement for patients, professionals and families. It presents exclusive insights into each stage of recovery, spanning coma, altered consciousness, post-traumatic amnesia and rehabilitation; all showing how she has defied conventional clinical expectations and made an exceptional recovery. This book is valuable reading to those who have suffered a brain injury and also to professionals such as neurologists, neuropsychologists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists and speech therapists working in the field.

162 pages, Hardcover

Published April 25, 2019

About the author

Sheena Elizabeth McDonald is a Scottish journalist and broadcaster.

She was a pupil at George Watson's Ladies College, and then studied English at the University of Edinburgh from where she graduated in 1976 before gaining a postgraduate certificate in radio, film and television studies from the University of Bristol.

In 1978 she began her professional broadcasting career as a producer and presenter at BBC Radio Scotland. She switched to television in 1981 as a presenter, continuity announcer and newsreader at STV, then went freelance in 1986, moving on to anchor such national radio and television news programmes as The World at One, Channel 4 News, The World This Week, After Dark and International Question Time and, in 1995, she received the first-ever 'Woman in Film and Television' Award.

She co-founded the Edinburgh Festival Fringe newspaper Festival Times with Garfield Kennedy and wrote the "Central Belt" column for The List magazine between 1987 and 1989.

Reviews

[Mark Brayne]

Wonderful book and inspiring story

Two of the best colleagues and people in the business, and brilliantly, accessibly told with the added perspective of just the right medical professional. A riveting read with a very happy and well deserved ending-so-far.