“I have done a degree in patience,” says Danette Rowse, whose life has changed irrevocably from a brain injury sustained in a car accident in 2013.
The Hazelbrook woman was driving home from an op-shopping trip collecting vintage and recycled fabrics to make children’s clothes for her business Samibop, when she blacked out.
She hit both sides of the highway at Warrimoo, before she had a head-on collision, sustaining many injuries including to her neck, back and brain. Flown to Westmead Hospital, when she woke from a coma she couldn’t speak or move anything except for two toes.
“I wondered what the hell happened,” Mrs Rowse, now 52, said.
“My brain had reset to zero. I had to relearn how to speak and walk. After a few weeks I started to speak.”
She spent the next six months at the Royal Rehab centre in Ryde working hard to eat solid food, regain movement, brain function and speech.
Mrs Rowse was able to return home with the support of her husband Evan and children Jasper and Samara; 10 and eight at the time.
Naturally there were lots of adjustments to be made, a friend noting after the accident, “it was like the whole family has had PTSD.”
While Mrs Rowse still faces challenges with movement in her facial muscles, walking and her short-term memory, she has come a long way.
Memory from the six months before the accident is pretty hazy – Mrs Rowse had been learning to play the guitar and that’s all been lost – but her sewing and the fashion design skills have remained.
“Give me a machine and I go on overdrive,” she said.
While she’s been able to return to making children’s clothing, which is stocked locally at The Nook in Leura and Wild Mountain Child in Hazelbrook, it’s a much slower process than it used to be and husband Evan helps out as Mrs Rowse no longer has the clarity of sight to thread the needle.
But she says the upside of the accident is it has made her more empathetic and she would like to pursue a career in social services and write a book about living with a brain injury to create awareness and understanding. “If anyone wants to help me write a book, please let me know,” Mrs Rowse said.
She has also lent her support to the Sidetember campaign launched by Molly Meldrum to reframe perceptions of brain injury and raise funds in support of the 700,000 Australians with a brain injury.
In September, people are encouraged to step into the shoes of someone with a brain injury to complete 12 challenges. The campaign is run by Royal Rehab and Brain Injury Australia, with the aim of raising $150,000. Info: www.sidetember.com.
