An innovative art project from charity the Child Brain Injury Trust for Action for Brain Injury Week (12-18 May) has seen children and teenagers with an acquired brain injury paint powerful pictures to demonstrate to the world what it is like to live with an acquired brain injury every day.
The striking art work highlights the eight common areas of difficulty that children with an acquired brain injury can often experience. Some of the children and teenagers the Child Brain Injury Trust has helped produced the paintings to show what it meant to them to live with their acquired brain injury.
Explaining the idea behind the project Lisa Turan, Chief Executive from the Charity said;
“Most people have no idea the effect on a child an acquired brain injury can have. Acquired brain injuries in children are very complex and an acquired brain injury can affect children in different ways. However, there are eight general areas of difficulty that children with an acquired brain injury can often have problems with. These are Attention & Concentration, Behaviour Issues, Social Skills, Fatigue, Perception, Communication, Memory and Executive Skills. We asked some of the children we have supported to paint a picture to show what it’s like to live with an acquired brain injury. They each picked one or two areas they have a particular difficulty with and have expressed that with some very powerful pieces of art. Action for Brain Injury Week gives us a great platform to exhibit these pieces of art.”
Joshua Russell-Douglas, aged 11 is one of the children involved in the project and his painting shows the difficulties he has with communication. Josh had Leukaemia when he was 4 and the chemotherapy damaged his brain, giving him an acquired brain injury. Joshua’s mum, Sally said;
“Joshua’s painting shows he finds communication hard. He finds everything so fast and needs extra time to find an answer. He feels his mind is like a maze and he struggles to find an answer to the questions he is asked.”
Ben Whymark, aged 7 is another of the children involved in the project. Ben’s mum Sonia explains;
“Ben acquired his brain injury when he was 16 months old when he contracted pneumococcal Meningitis and Septicaemia following an acute illness where he also developed kidney failure. Ben had to learn all of his skills again- Walking, talking, how to swallow and how to eat solid food again. He damaged his frontal lobes and at the back of his brain! He’s now a bright, intelligent boy, but still has challenges to deal with on a daily basis, but manages them remarkably well most days: He needs slightly longer to process what he’s asked to do, he gets tired quickly depending on the task, he lacks danger awareness when he’s tired or has a fuzzy head and has a short temper/ frustration/ tolerance level. However, he’s a true inspiration, who never gives up and truly enjoys life to the full.”
Ben’s paintings show how easily distracted he can be by the slightest noise, affecting his attention and concentration and another picture shows his head wanting to explode like a volcano.
Lisa Turan, the Chief Executive of the charity, continued;
“These are some of the difficulties faced by children with an acquired brain injury every day. We want this project to not just highlight some of the difficulties children with an acquired brain injury face. But also make adults think about how they act and react to children who may be exhibiting some of these behaviours and who unbeknown to them, have an acquired brain injury.
The Child Brain Injury Trust supports children, teenagers and young adults up to the age of 24 with an acquired brain injury and their families. We offer emotional and practical support to the child and family. We also work with their brothers and sisters and go into schools to help with support strategies for the child.
It can be very hard for people to understand an acquired brain injury, as the child may look the same as they did before they acquired their brain injury, but their behaviour may well be different.”
Cheryl Abrahams, partner and specialist personal injury lawyer at Bolt Burdon Kemp who are sponsoring The Child Brain Injury Trust’s participation in Action for Brain Injury Week, said;
“This is a very special project that gives children with an acquired brain injury the opportunity to express in their own way how their injury affects them. The artwork is personal and very powerful and brings to light some of the difficulties that children who suffer from brain injury face.”
The paintings will be on display all week (12-18 May) at the award-winning Town Hall Hotel, Patriot Square, Bethnal Green, London.
Lisa Turan says;
“We’ve had such a good response from people that we are looking into getting the exhibition to tour the country later on in the year. Everyone should know more about childhood acquired brain injury.”