Sean’s new life. Recovery after traumatic brain injury.

Hi all. This page is setup for Sean McCarthy, a Waterford man who suffered a devastating medical emergency in the summer of 2023 just two days before his 49th birthday that left him with a traumatic brain injury that has affected every aspect of his life. We are setting up this fundraiser to raise the money necessary to help him continue his recovery and provide him with essential equipment, services, therapies and transport so that his family can finally bring him home after being in a hospital setting since that life changing day in the summer of 2023.

Sean :

Sean was born and raised in Larchville, Waterford .He would often speak about of the fond memories he had of growing up there, the strong sense of community and the lifelong friendships that he made .He’s worked in Tesco Ballybeg since it’s opening in 2010 and got on well with staff and customers alike. A proud Waterford man, Sean’s favourite pastime was to head off with his camera and take beautiful photographs of all there is to see around the city and coastline. He also loves very old photographs of Waterford City and liked to bring them to life by turning old black and white photos into colour.

 

Sean married the love of his life Annemarie 23 years ago this 4th July. She describes Sean as the most laidback easy-going person you could meet, very funny, caring and a great husband and father. Sean is the kind of person you look forward to coming home to after work, truly her best friend. Both Sean and Annemarie worked full time jobs and looked forward to their days off and weekends together. They have a sixteen-year-old daughter Aoibheann who they both adore. Aoibheann had just finished the junior certificate cycle in the summer of 2023. It was Aoibheann that found Sean and ran to get help from their amazing neighbors on that awful day.

 

What happened :

 

On July 3rd, 2023, Sean very sadly suffered an out of hospital cardiac arrest. He was brought to UHW and spent 10 days in ICU in an induced coma. Sean's status was extremely critical at this point and his family were informed that there was a very strong chance that he wasn’t going to survive.Between the time of him having the cardiac arrest and the ambulance arriving Sean had gone approx 20 minutes without oxygen going to his brain. Thankfully Sean health improved enough to be transferred out of the ICU initially to a step-down unit CCU and subsequently to a general medical ward, where he remained until his admission to the National Rehabilitation Hospital in May 2024.

Since his injury, Sean was diagnosed with secondary epilepsy and was seen to experience several seizure events. During just one weekend that he spent in the intensive care unit, he suffered up to 50 seizures. Sean is now on several anti-seizure medications to manage this. Most significantly however, Sean has suffered a significant brain injury as a result of his original cardiac arrest which has sadly impacted every aspect of his life.

Sean has severe physical, cognitive, behavioral and communication challenges that are envisaged to remain life-long although with ongoing therapies Sean can continue to make improvements, as a result of these challenges he requires full assistance with all aspects of his daily living. He does not mobilise and requires specialist equipment to support in his round-the-clock care.

Thankfully for Sean he has the love and care of his dearest Annemarie and Aoibheann who have remained committed throughout this whole time.

 

Sean's wish is to be with his family. Annmarie and Aoibheann are unfaltering in their commitment to take Sean home and provide for his care with appropriate level of supports.

Sean was discharged from UHW at the end of December but was moved to a residential care home. Because of his many needs he cannot return home until the family have everything in place for him.

Recovery :

 

Doctors explained from the very start that Sean’s survival was a miracle. Added to what he was already going through, Sean got Covid, sepsis, MRSA and many other infections due to his system being so weakened and being in hospital for such a long time. Annmarie put her job on hold so that she could do whatever she could for him and was fully involved in his care. This has put a lot of financial strain on them, but Sean needed them with him.

After spending 10 months in UHW. Sean started a five-month rehabilitation program in the National Rehabilitation Hospital. No false hope was given as to what they were be able to do for Sean as Annmarie and Aoibheann were given the devastating news that not one single part of Sean’s brain had not been affected so what they could do for him was limited. They promised to do as much as they could for him regardless and improvements were made, the biggest one being working on retraining Sean’s swallow so that he could eat again, after spending the last 10 months being tube fed with a liquid feed, He continued to get stronger after leaving the NRH in sept 2024 and was transferred back to UHW. In November 2024 Annmarie and Aoibheann were able to take Sean out of the hospital for a few hours and go to the theatre royal to see Gilbert O’Sullivan, one of Sean’s favourite musicians. It was very emotional for them to see Sean happily watching and listening, he didn’t know that the last time they played those songs for him, he was in a coma, and nobody knew for sure if he was going to wake.

The future :

Going forward, Sean will need 24-hour care and it’s going to cost a lot for the family to be able to get him home. They now need to move out of the house that they’ve lived in for many years and start over in a house in a different area that is more wheelchair accessible with enough space for all that Sean will need to make it possible for him to live at home with his family. Although thankfully wheelchair access will be there, they will need to create a suitable environment for Sean within the house, one of their many costs.

 

He will need extensive specialist equipment and additional treatments and therapies to help him with his everyday life, all of which are very costly but essential for Sean to continue to make progress. He is a young man and his family want to be able to provide him with whatever services they can for him to have a good quality of life . He responds well to therapies but at certain times they weren’t available to him and it was noted that improvements that he had made during his time in the national rehabilitation hospital were being lost when he wasn’t getting them regularly. Some of the money raised will be used to make sure that Sean continues to get services like physio, occupational therapy and speech and language, all essential for his continued recovery.

A vehicle for transport is also needed for the family which is another big cost that the money raised will help to go towards. During Sean’s stay in the NRH he was measured for a custom-made wheelchair. although ideal for Sean for comfort due to its size and molded seating it isn’t compatible with all wheelchair taxis. For appointments, it’s important that Sean has a suitable means of transport so that he can attend important appointments in his custom-made wheelchair.

 

Sean has been through so much and has fought so hard when the all the odds were against him. Improvements can continue to be made for years after a brain injury and Sean has proven that even just in a short space of time. Despite everything he has gone through, Sean’s personality and strength of character still shines through. Between his facial expressions that say more than words, his sense of humour and quick wit are still there. He still can make the people around him laugh and they are all at their happiest when they’re all together in these moments. It’s things like this that get them through the tough days, glimpses of how they were before. He has come further than his family and his doctors ever thought possible.

 

It would mean everything to them to have him home again after not being home for over a year and a half and to give him the best quality of life they possibly can.

The family hoped they wouldn’t need to have funds raised and that Sean would have made a full recovery but unfortunately that wasn’t the case, and they have huge costs facing them.

We hope that after reading Sean’s story you can help by donating to this fundraiser and help them start to get Sean what he needs to be able to be reunited with his family and finally be able to come home.