Head injury: one victim's story

Brian Flood (28), from Donaghmede, Dublin, suffered a head injury while travelling in Australia in September, 2002.

"I was coming home with friends one night and I took a short cut that involved me jumping from one height to another, I missed my footing, landed wrong and tumbled backwards, hitting my head. I was knocked out for two weeks."

He spent a further month in hospital in Sydney before moving to a rehabilitation centre. He returned to Ireland in February last year and has made a full physical recovery. However, his memory had been damaged to the extent that he could not go back to his job as a sales rep.

"I went through further rehabilitation here in Dún Laoghaire from may to September last year, but I still wasn't quite ready to go back to a job."

Brian Flood sustained "semantic memory" damage, which means he has trouble remembering the names of everyday objects and actions.

"I'd have trouble with colours, or the names of animals. I could tell you I wanted toast but would forget what you cook it in."

In the training unit he will continue to work on his memory while upskilling on computers and learning how to handle job interviews and work situations.

"Hopefully I'll be here about four or five months, before I'm ready to head back to work, ideally to a sales job."