Beth, Daniel’s sister

Jenny Twist is mum to Beth, 11, and Daniel, 7. A year ago, Daniel had an Arteriovenous malformation or AVM (an abnormal connection between arteries and veins) close to his brain stem. This caused an aneurism and Daniel had three bleeds on his brain in the space of five days.

Jenny said “Beth has taken second best” since Daniel’s illness. While Daniel was in hospital, Beth had to stay with grandparents. Since he’s come home, she helps with his daily living, feeding, toileting and so on. Jenny said, “She is fantastic with him and devotes most of her time to him.” She went on, “Daniel idolises Beth. She plays with him, helps him, nothing is too much trouble for her. She has grown up very quickly, but she is an amazing, special young lady.”

Our survey of parents and carers echoed Jenny’s words, with the majority of people responding (84%) feeling that their child’s brain injury had had an effect on their siblings. Over half stated that they have to care for their sibling (52%), and almost half that they are no longer able to do as much as a family due to financial difficulties (43%). See here for more on the survey results.

For more information and support for siblings, check out our Factsheets. You can also listen to our webinar on this topic, which was recorded during Action for Brain Injury Week 2015. In order to listen, you will need to register for our online Learning Catalogue which you can do here. 

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To read our other Action for Brain Injury Week blogs, click here