Tag Archives: Acquired Brain Injury (ABI)

IN 2009 Brian Hogan suffered severe brain damage after an unprovoked attack left him blind and partially paralysed. However, he hasn’t let that stop him. Brian who lives in Acquired Brain Injury’s (ABI) residential service in Clarecastle has gone from needing to use a wheelchair to taking on a mammoth walkathon challenge. Brian has vowed to walk the equivalent of 20 laps of Thomond Park, and just last weekend he surpassed his fundraising target of €10,000 for ABI, with donations still coming in. He will be taking on his final lap in style early next month, walking around the famous Thomond Park rugby pitch. Speaking about the fundraiser, Brian explains, “My fitness levels prior to my assault in 2009 were excellent as I attended the gym four times a week. I swam, ran and cycled. I was a non-smoker and in excellent health. As a result of my Acquired Brain Injury I suffered a right-side hematoma causing left sided weakness. …

ON the morning of May 17, 2012, the course of Michael Lorigan’s life changed forever. He remembers nothing about the single-vehicle accident near Cranny Cross on the Kilrush-Ennis road but, these days, he is reconciled with accepting and dealing with the consequences. The now 25-year-old from Kilmurry McMahon, who was hospitalised for three and a half months, has been left partially-sighted, along with an acquired brain injury. Ironically, if you didn’t know about his injuries, you wouldn’t guess that Michael had been badly injured. “I was told in the hospital that it’s a hidden disability. I’ve met a lot of people and, to look at me, they would never think I have a sight problem. There are certain things that I see and some things I wouldn’t,” he explained. One source of relief is the fact that he was on his own in the car. He doesn’t know how he would have coped if he had a passenger. “Thank God. …