James Given New Lease Of Life After Cardiac Arrest
The WPH Charitable Trust has donated £2500 in order to help improve the quality of life for a Leamington man left unable to speak after a cardiac arrest.
James Warren was left with a brain injury which caused severe physical disabilities and difficulty in verbally communicating with others following the attack.
He was transferred to the Leamington Rehabilitation Hospital and when eventually his voice regained some sound, he could only communicate in such a low volume that others had to attempt to read his lips to understand him.
He was also unable to write as he could not hold a pen and had to resort to using the thumbs up or thumbs down signs to communicate with those around him.
However, the loan of an Allora communication device from the Speech and Language Therapy department proved a game changer for James, allowing him to communicate far more easily with his family and carers.
The department then applied to The WPH Charitable Trust, which provides grants for people with physical or mental health needs, to allow him to continue to benefit from the device in the longer term.
It is a robust device with large keys allowing him to type his thoughts, and for others to hear his messages as well as read them on a screen.
Verity Stokes, speech and language therapist at Leamington Rehabilitation Hospital, said the device had given James a new lease of life.
She said: “James’s inability to easily communicate with those around him left him feeling not just frustrated but also isolated.”
“Thanks to the grant from WPH he now has full-time use of an Allora device of his own which is allowing him to integrate more in his community and has given him a whole new lease of life.”
