Follow us: hu Improving life after brain injury Need to talk? 0808 800 2244 Donate Home About brain injury Individuals Brain injury and me Matt Rhodes Share your story Share your story with us to help others affected by brain injury Matt Rhodes I thought I was in a dream. Many survivors are unable to remember the incident in which they received their brain injury. They can only piece it together by what people tell them happened or what people guess might have taken place. Ex-serviceman Matt Rhodes, 44, has no memory at all of how he sustained his traumatic brain injury. It happened while he was based in Germany as part of the Devonshire and Dorset regiment in 1995 – who had just returned from a tour in Bosnia. “I had loads of mates as I was living on camp in Germany when my accident happened,” recalls Matt. “It apparently was because of a motorbike accident, but no one found me until roughly four hours after my accident. It was down a straight road and the bike was hardly damaged. “There were no skid marks on the road but my helmet I was wearing was like an egg with a massive crack down the centre of it. It wasn’t investigated so no one knows how it happened. “No one has any records of my accident and the only info they have starts from about four weeks after my crash, and then it doesn’t make sense what is said.” The accident left Matt fighting for his life and it was 10 weeks before he came out of a coma. The crash has left him blind, paralysed down his right hand side and blighted by significant memory problems. He said: "When I came out of the coma, I couldn’t do anything by myself, not even clean my teeth or have a wash. The last memory I had was being in Bosnia. So my memory goes surviving being bombed and shot at whilst in Bosnia, to waking up in an English hospital not able to do anything. It was very strange and didn’t make sense. "I thought I was in a dream at first. It took me three months after I came out of my coma before I could remember my first name, then another six to remember my surname. “I certainly couldn’t remember other people’s names. To this day I still can’t remember many other than my close family who I’m always getting muddled up.” But with time, and after going through some particularly bleak patches, Matt has slowly rebuilt his life. He said: “My life is brilliant, it couldn’t be any better. I’m now married, have two step-children and two children of my own, and am very happy. “About 10 years ago I was feeling very depressed and I didn’t see the point in living, but never considered suicide. Now I have come out the other side, so to speak, and now respect the little things in life. "I think of myself as if I’m a car, even though I have a couple of flat tyres, and a couple of smashed headlights, I am fine.” Back to stories index Brain Injury Identity Card Our Brain Injury Identity Card provides survivors with added confidence in social situations, while helping them to get the right support if they come into contact with the criminal justice system. Find out more Headway Emergency Fund The Emergency Fund provides grants of up to £500 in the immediate aftermath of brain injury. Find out more Traumatic brain injury Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is an injury to the brain caused by a trauma to the head (head injury) Find out more Friends of Headway Individual membership Join/Renew Contact Us t: 0115 924 0800 e: enquiries@headway.org.uk Help us improve life after brain injury. Donate Improving life after brain injury 0808 800 2244 Call our free helpline 9am - 5pm, Monday to Friday. Or email helpline@headway.org.uk Join our online Community 27k Likes 25k Followers 3k Subscribers Privacy policy Cookies Terms & Conditions Accessibility Contact Us Resource centre Find a Headway Approved care providers Charity shops Fundraising comments, feedback and complaints Vacancies Join our mailing list Headway - the brain injury association is registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales (Charity no. 1025852) and the Office of the Scottish Regulator (Charity no. SC 039992). Headway is a company limited by guarantee, registered in England no. 2346893. © Copyright Headway 2021 - Site designed and developed by MEDIAmaker By clicking 'Accept All Cookies’ you agree to the storing of cookies on your device. This will help us to offer the best possible experience and develop more of the information you need. Accept All Cookies Cookies Settings