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Hey Guys, I hope you are all well and having a positive start to 2014 I wanted to give you an update as so much as happened since my last post. Just over 5 weeks ago we was told that my brother wouldn't be going to rehab and the best option for him would be a home after his massive brainstem bleed and he was in a locked in state. As a family we decided to try out a method of scalp and electro acupuncture that I had researched on the internet as a last chance to get him moving again which I have mentioned in my last post. We started the acupuncture on 17th December and had the sessions every other day right up until today. During this time we have saw movement from the first session. Now his left side has got even stronger and more movement in the right side, which is his weaker side. My brother can now lift his legs up and down when sitting in the chair to strengthen these, when we leave the hospital he can spud us with a closed fist, and when his children visit he gives them the thumbs up to say he is okay. We get laughs out of him and now to when we are having conversations between each other. He still has his trachy in so we are not sure what the speech is going to be like but they have started to deflate the cuff for a few hours each day and they are very happy how he has taken to this. Yesterday at the end of his acupuncture session, he was having his needles removed and the needle he hates most above the top lip just under the nose he lifted his arm and took this out himself without a mirror and held the needle until we noticed. Tomorrow morning he is being transferred to Northwick Park Rehab where the acupuncturist have agreed to continue the treatment once a week. We have recorded all of the progress during sessions and want to make a mini documentary on how far he has come over the last month to show him when he is better. We owe the acupuncturist so much in the help they have given us and I can not wait for the day my brother can thank them himself. Over the past 2 days he has had various nurses that looked after him in NICU ward come and see him to say goodbye and they can not believe the progress he has made in such little time from when he left their ward on 16th December. Thank god we fought the hospital to allow us to use this alternative treatment otherwise we wouldn't be where we are today. Just wanted to give you all an update as we enter this new chapter of rehab. Has anyone been to Northwick park and what was their experiences there? Its a bit of a journey for us to get there as the drive is awkward but we will cope, Homerton would have been our first preference but due to his trachy they can not take him.

Hi Guys, After our first session with the acupuncturist the next day we had a lot of movement from both sides of his body and again another raised left arm, the movement on the right side is not as much as the left but there is movement. It’s so amazing that we have gone from barely no movement and him being in a locked on type of state to what we have gained in one session. Yesterday we had session 2 and it was pretty much more of the same, more scalp acupuncture and then some electro acupuncture. He responded well again to this and we had more leg movements. I haven’t been able to get to the hospital today to see if he is more lively yet as I’m finishing up work for Christmas today so have lots to clear. I have booked all of Jan off to sit down the hospital during these exciting times. We are doing the acupuncture sessions for 1 hour every other day and the acupuncturists are even coming in on Christmas day to do a session, they are the nicest people and so keen to help. We did tell them there was no need to come on Christmas day but their response was, we need to carry on his treatment. I think it’s a bit of a project for them too as they have never been given the opportunity to do this treatment in the UK, they are able to showcase what is standard procedure in China for patients with Brain injuries. We are visiting a rehab centre this weekend with the aim to getting him in there from mid-end Jan. They are also looking at taking out his trachy soon to see how he copes without it, they are a little concerned with he can swallow properly yet. We had a family meeting this week with the hospital where they told us what the next steps would be and also to answer any questions we had. When we asked why he wasn’t operated on they said the type and size of the bleed my brother had they felt that operating on him wouldn’t have helped and they didn’t expect to see him make it through that night, that was taken into account when making their decision. Today is 7 weeks since the day this happened and I would like to thank everyone for all your support and prayers over this time. It’s amazing the strength you can gather from people you hardly know and this means a lot. This has helped me keep positive share that positivity to my family members that haven’t had the opportunity to speak to anyone. We are still at the beginning of a long journey and the light at the end of the tunnel is far, but no matter how long it takes, as long as there is air in my brothers lungs we will keep on driving and I look forward to sharing a cold one with him once we reach the end. I will try and keep you all updated on our next sessions before Christmas. Thanks Michael

Hey Guys, My brother was moved out of ICU on Sunday and is now in a ward. He still wasn't moving much at all apart from the occasional small movements from his hand on his left side. We finally got permission from the new ward to go ahead with the acupuncture and had our first session this evening, It was quite remarkable. They placed about 8 needles in his head, 1 wrist on this right and 1 in the moustache area. The moved the needles about and he started making movement on his right leg and clenching his right hand. They then attached a tense machine to the needles and left him for 20 mins. when they come back they did some more movement of the needles and he lifted his left arm about half a foot in the air. After the session the Dr who performed the acupuncture said for a first session he was very positive in his initial responses. The also filmed this and will film every session. I'm over the moon, any movement would have been good so this more then we can ask for. Any help towards rehab was what we was hoping for. We have our next session on Thursday then again on Saturday

Today was the big day when the acupuncturist was coming to do his first session with my brother, at the last moment the hospital pulled out after signing the consent forms on Sunday. They would like to look into things first. Massive kick in the teeth today and slowly this hospital is breaking mine and my families heart. The nurses are fanstastic but there seems to be something at Consultant level that we have always felt uneasy about from day 1. Questions never get answered and if they do you get so many different answers. Whilst they are looking into things, tomorrow I am going to ask them to look into what happened during the 7 hours my brother was there the week before this all happened complaining of servere headaches, numbness in the face and blurred vision. I am trying to be strong but anger seems to be winning at the moment.

Thanks Guys, been to see my brother all day today and watched a film with him. He is getting smaller and smaller but having him with us still is a blessing. I didn't realise how lucky we have been, the acupuncturist that is going to be working with my brother was a senior acupuncture doctor at a TCM hospital in Nanjing, China, which is the same hospital that treated Devin Dearth.

Hi Guys, Just got back from the assessment with the acupuncturist's.They looked through the medical notes and examined him and have told us that the bleed that my brother had was a bad bleed but there is still grey areas of the Brain that can be saved. The have not promised anything but would like to work with my brother. They have worked on people before with my severe bleeds so nothing is impossible. We haver been rather lucky to find the guy we have as he does Scalp acupuncture, I was only just reading about this last night but its hard to find someone in the UK that performs this type of acupuncture . He has been doing this for 18 years and is also a lecturer in London university teaching acupuncture. We are willing to give anything a go at the moment so we are going to do 3 sessions a week for 3-4 weeks to see if this brings any reactions or improvements. I have researched this a lot so know what to expect and I know acupuncture doesn't work in all cases. I have been so inspired by the help acupuncture did for Devin Dearth in the film 9000 needles (great documentary if you haven't seen it) the story echo's our own. If we don't the results we hoped for, then at least I can say we gave it a shot. Thanks for all your support over the recent weeks guys, this means a lot. Michael

Hi Guys, not been able to get on for a while, just wanted to give you an update. Next week the hospital have called a family meeting. There hasn't been much promising signs over the last couple of weeks, the moment was minimal and he has not done any movement in front of the doctors still. The hospital want to send my brother to a home rather then rehab which has hit us all hard. We still think he needs more time as he has had many set backs over the last 4 weeks since this happened and only 1 week of being stable. I have looked online to see what can kick start any movement as this is what we need for him to be accepted into rehab. Tomorrow we have 2 people coming to the hospital to assess him for acupuncture, I saw a documentary on this so wanted to give it a shot before.

Thanks for the advice Kris. Just had a call from his happy fiancée and today he has moved his hands to command and is blinking on command. I'm so happy as this is the news she needed, she has been so down this week. I had the feeling he was going to do something I can't wait to get up to the hospital after work now.

Hi Guys, Been a mixed week so far this week. So my brother has been on antibiotics for his lungs and yesterday it seems to be working as his temp has come down and he was back on the mask for a couple of hours yesterday. Yesterday we was told has has some blood clots in his legs but not to be alarmed as they are in the lower legs , did anyone else experience blood clots and is it common? I believe he is really fighting this week as he seems to be trying to keep his eyes fully open and focus on things but the nurse still think he isn't fully awake, I don't know why but I think he is as when we ask him to open them it takes a few seconds then you see the movement. Something tells me good things will happen over the next week

Unfortunately my brother has been put back on the ventilator this as he has picked up Pneumonia. One step forward, two steps back.

Thanks Sally, Today my father asked him to squeeze his hand and he made the tiniest movement to squeeze it. He didn't do anymore after this but he looked at is with very wide open eyes Today as if to tell us something. He is having an MRI in the next couple of days and he may come of ICU next week. Great day in all, any tiny bit of progress is more then I ever expected

Today they wheeled him out to relatives room for about 45mins. His eyes were open and shed a little tear when he met his new son. I have just been to visit him and still no movement, I tried to communicate today through blinking yes and no answers but not sure I got it right, I also bought a letter board but I supposed I have to master the blinks before attempting this.

Hey Guys, Sorry I forgot to say they had a little boy, this was his dream as he has 2 little girls already and was dying for a mini him. The hospital have been great, the Neuro ICU ward and Maternity ward have been in contact and arranged for him to meet him tomorrow. Thanks for all your kind messages, being on here only a couple of days has already made me think positively. I need to install this into him now Michael

The Baby just arrived fit and healthy. I have just told my brother which brought a tear to his eye

I will take your advice on this with me Paul, thank you. Today has been a positive day, my brother was in a seat today when we went to visit him, although his focus wasn't on us as much it was better then him being stuck in the bed and they are also reducing his ventilation usage so he didn't have any help from the machine while I was there. About an hour ago, I just received a message from his fiancée to say she thinks she is in labour (will keep you updated). 2 weeks ago I was dreading such news as I didn't expect my brother to be with us.