PEOPLE with severe head injuries are often written off by the health services, according to Marie Creeney of Longton.

She speaks from experience - for the past nine years Marie has worked ceaselessly trying to rehabilitate her husband Frank who suffered a brain tumour in 1989.

Frank is one of the 20,000 people in the county with severe head injuries. Many are caused by car accidents and suchlike, while others, like Frank's, are acquired through tumours, or from having a stroke.

The damage caused to the brain varies in different cases but, at worst, it can leave victims totally dependent, unable to do anything for themselves. Families are often left to care for the victim single-handedly.

After struggling to look after Frank for nine years, Marie is keen to fill this gap in rehabilitative care.

She formed the Lancashire Head Injuries Association (LHIA) in 1996 and, despite being turned down for Lottery funding, she is determined to set up a unit in Preston, working with the NHS, with neurology experts, providing specialist treatment and after care.

This is the Creeney's story and why Marie is so keen to ensure others in her family's situation receive the support they need.

Frank was in a coma for almost 12 months. He had a series of operations which successfully removed the cancer, but left him with severe brain damaged.

Marie, a former social worker, said: "He had so many operations in London, Oxford and Manchester. He ended up with contracted limbs, unable to walk and he lost his speech."

She admits to feeling helpless at first, but the tenacious mother-of-eight was determined not to give up.

Since then she has worked round the clock teaching Frank the life skills he has lost. She performs routine physiotherapy to prevent his limbs contracting, and exercises his mind with repetitive tasks, the kind used by teachers on young children.

"Now his limbs have straightened out and he can turn the TV on and switch on Ceefax to see how his shares are doing!" she said.

"He can hold a decent conversation, even though his face has been left partially paralysed and has suffered a loss of memory. He still requires total care but at least he can get around and tell me what he needs."

Marie has built up her own rehabilitation programme but claims more support is need for carers and victims' families.

She said: "There are very few counsellors. It hits you at night. You can get very depressed and need a shoulder to cry on when the person you love isn't there any more. You can't mourn because there hasn't been a death but you need to bring that person back.

"And you need a break. I've not had a holiday for five years.

"We need the right treatment at the right time in an appropriate setting. We can rehabilitate the person in 93 per cent of cases. Brain damage is not irreversible. The human brain has a remarkable capacity to accommodate and adapt to an injury."

For more details of LHIA or to help with fund-raising ideas, contact Marie on 01772 611892.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.