Since its launch in 2011, almost half a million pounds has been distributed to thousands of families to help them cope with the sudden practical implications of acquired brain injury.
“It is incredibly humbling to think about how many lives have been touched by the Emergency Fund over the past decade,” said Holly Warner, who manages the project.
“When your loved one is fighting for their life in hospital, all you want to do is be by their bedside. People who sustain severe brain injuries are often sent to specialist trauma centres, which can be located hundreds of miles from where their relatives live.
“This means relatives are faced with long and expensive journeys to and from hospital or rehabilitation centres every day. The impact on finances can be extreme, at a time when lives have already been turned upside down.
“Our role is to take a little pressure off families at such a difficult time. Relatively small grants can make a significant difference to the strain families are under.
“We are delighted to be celebrating the tenth anniversary of this hugely important project.”
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Tracy Dickson
For Tracy Dickson, Headway’s support was crucial when her 19-year-old son, Brandon, sustained a hypoxic brain injury following a series of epileptic seizures that resulted in a cardiac arrest.
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Julie Mueller
Julie Mueller has nothing but praise for the Headway Emergency Fund after her son, Luke, sustained a brain injury in August 2020.
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Headway Emergency Fund
The Emergency Fund provides one-off small grants to help adult brain injury survivors and their families cope with the practical implications of brain injury.
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Support
The Emergency Fund has been supported by the Stewarts Foundation for the past ten years.
John Cahill, Managing Partner of the Foundation said: “The Stewarts Foundation is pleased to have proposed and then supported the Headway Emergency Fund since its inception ten years ago, so far donating in excess of £400,000.
“In the course of our work as injury lawyers, we see the short-term impact on families’ finances as their loved ones are in hospital recovering. Thousands of families have now benefitted from this fund which has helped them at a critical time in their lives. We are proud to have been able to assist them in their moment of need.”
Peter McCabe, Chief Executive of Headway, expressed the charity’s gratitude for the support received: “We are incredibly grateful to the Stewarts Foundation for its continuing support of the Emergency Fund.
“Without such incredible generosity, thousands of families would be faced with making some exceptionally difficult decisions about whether they can simply afford to be at their loved one’s side.
“No-one should have to face this terrible dilemma.”
