A MAN who has spent 15 years in hospitals and rehabilitation centres after suffering brain damage has finally been allowed home for Christmas.
And Karl Swain, 24, said moving back with his mum and dad for the first time since he was nine years old was the only present he needed.
Karl was injured when he fell 30ft through the roof of an empty factory, suffering a fractured skull, collar bone and cheekbone and was in a coma for 25 days.
In 1994 he was accepted into a rehabilitation centre in Northampton and five years later was transferred to Kemple View psychiatric hospital, Old Langho. His parents, Leslie and Rita, and brothers Danny, Mark and Tony, moved to Great Harwood from Hull, where the accident occurred, to be near him. And although his brothers have now left home, Karl is delighted to be able to spend Christmas Day with his parents.
He said: "I feel great and am looking forward to being with my family. My brother is coming down with his girlfriend as well. This is the only present I need. I am getting my confidence back but it will take a while."
Leslie and Rita, of Kipling Place, have been there for Karl every step of the way as he has battled back from his accident which also left him slightly paralysed.
Leslie said: "This is the best Christmas his mother and I could have hoped for. We won't be doing much but it is just so special just to have Karl here with us on Christmas Day and have nice celebrations together. We have bought fireworks which we are going to set off on New Year's Eve because we are looking at it as the start of a new chapter of our lives.
"Karl couldn't talk, walk, feed himself or do anything that he used to take for granted as a nine-year-old. He has been able to come home for days or holidays but it was only this week that it was confirmed he would not have to go back to hospital.
"He has had to deal with quite a lot. One of the worst things for us was agreeing to have him placed under a section of the Mental Health Act because he kept wandering off and going missing. He has got things under control now. In the last 12 months we have been getting him back into society. He does have a long-term and short-term memory loss and gets confused, and every day is a challenge.
"My son Tony is spending Christmas with us. He was with Karl when he fell through the roof so he has got an extra bond with him. Since Karl has been coming home he has made some friends at his local snooker hall in Great Harwood which is good, and I'd like to thank Dave and Ann Baldwin and Mick and Anne Caddy for their support.
"One message we want to give other people in similar situations is that if you stick together as a family you will get through it. There is light at the end of the tunnel now but it has been a long hard slog."
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