To mark Father’s Day, a Cambridgeshire rehab community has shared the inspiring progress of a Royal Air Force veteran who sustained a significant brain injury and overcame “testing hurdles” on the road to recovery, thanks to the unwavering support of his son.
Askham Rehab, a specialist neuro rehab community, near Doddington, has shared the journey of Herbert Martin, an 85-year-old from Littleport, near Ely, who sustained a brain injury following a fall in October 2020 and went on to make a remarkable recovery – highlighting the rapid progression specialist rehab therapy can offer.
A former RAF veteran of 12 years which included deployments to Cyprus, Australia, Pakistan and Singapore, Herbert was admitted to Askham Rehab on New Year’s Eve 2020 after suffering a subarachnoid haemorrhage that caused a bleed between his brain and skull.
The severity of the injury left Herbert extremely fatigued and resulted in muscle weakness that restricted his mobility. His condition upon arrival at Askham was so critical it was initially feared he wouldn’t recover enough to return home and live independently.
However, due to his extraordinary response to treatment from Askham’s multidisciplinary team of therapists, and the inspiring support from his son, Paul, and two grandchildren, Herbert is almost at a stage where he can return home.
Sara Neaves, Clinical Lead and Outpatients Service Manager at Askham Rehab, said: “When Herbert first came to us, he was incredibly weak. This made any initial progress extremely challenging. He was assessed by our teams of clinical psychologists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, and speech and language therapists, before SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-based) goals were set to aid his recovery.
“To begin getting Herbert back on his feet, we began to build his strength and stamina up through various therapy exercises and activities, such as baking and cooking. Eventually, he progressed enough to be able to use our hydrotherapy pool where he could benefit from the many qualities of exercising in water. In a short space of time, he was then able to push himself further in our state-of-the-art robotic suite, where he used Tyromotion’s MYRO table, a sensor-based surface with interactive applications, to work on his standing balance and weight transference, whilst challenging his upper limb coordination. He also used the OMEGO Plus, a multifunctional chair enabling specific training of functional therapy goals, to build on his range of movement and strength.”
With the initial belief that it was unlikely Herbert would be able to return home and that another setting would be more suitable for him due to the severity of his condition, he surpassed everyone’s expectations during the early stages of his rehabilitation, maintaining an outstanding level of engagement in his therapy sessions. One key driver for this was the support of his son, who has been motivating him every day throughout his stay at Askham, playing an integral role in his father’s recovery.
Paul’s encouragement enabled Herbert to push himself to perform functional tasks and overcome challenges to slowly regain his independence. Herbert went from standing at a work surface to standing with parallel bars, and finally taking independent steps with a rollator walking frame, which he was determined to achieve.
Sara continued: “Herbert’s main goal is to get back home. To facilitate this, our occupational therapy team completed a home assessment where they have been making adaptations to enable him to be as fully independent as possible. Today, he can now mobilise completely independently with a rollator. It was only a few months ago we feared informing his son that he wouldn’t be able to return home, so to see Herbert nearing a point where he can live a completely independent and happy life is nothing short of amazing.
“His remarkable progress is also due to the wonderful relationship he has with his son. The bond they have is really special and has been monumental in Herbert overcoming so many testing hurdles. It’s enabled him to maintain motivation to progress whilst allowing us to establish an effective working relationship with his family, which has allowed us to facilitate Herbert as coherently and effectively as possible.”
Herbert said: “I have a lovely relationship with my son, Paul. Every night we talk to each other without fail and he has been looking after my bungalow during my rehabilitation. The Askham Rehab team have been excellent. Everyone is so friendly and helpful, and I can’t thank them enough.”
Aliyyah-Begum Nasser, Director at Askham, said: “Our ethos is all about maintaining a person-centred approach. We put the patient at the core of our practices and empower them with the tools to oversee their journey with us their own way. We’re delighted Herbert has reached a stage where he can almost return home and live independently.”
For more information on Askham Rehab, please visit https://askhamrehab.com/.
Askham is always welcoming new residents and staff into its growing community. For further information, please contact 01354 740269.
