Daughter helps mum walk again after brain injury during birth

A teenage girl with long straight dark blonde hair, parted slightly off-centre, and wearing a light blue crew neck sweatshirt, sits on a tan coloured leather sofa. Next to her is a woman in her forties, who has dark blonde hair parted down the middle and shoulder length, slightly curled, worn in a half up, half down style. She is wearing a black, long-sleeved dress with white polka dots. The young girl is smiling into the camera, while the woman is also smiling but looking off to the left of the frame. The wall behind the sofa is painted a peach colour.

Freya, who's now 13, was taken to visit her mum in hospital every day for 11 months before she came back to the family home

Sarah Easedale
BBC Wales

When 13-year-old Freya Harry and her mum Rachel cuddle up on the sofa, what's immediately striking is how much they giggle and have fun together.

The bond between the mother and daughter from Wrexham is strong, but follows them having had one of the most difficult starts imaginable.

Rachel suffered a heart attack and hypoxic brain injury, which meant her brain was starved of oxygen, during childbirth in July 2012. Rachel was left in a coma, and then unable to walk, talk or sit up.

It meant that Rachel, then 30, was in hospital for the first 11 months of Freya's life.

Family were told by some medical staff that she would never get any better but Rachel's mother, Karan, said she always thought there was "something there" and believes that Freya was the key and the "driving force" for her improving.

A woman in a hospital bed with the white sheet pulled up to her chin. Her hair, which is brown, is pulled back from her face. She is not conscious and there are tubes entered into her nostrils, and by her mouth. A newborn baby, with a small amount of dark hair and wearing a white babygrow, is lying next to her with a pillow along side and with a white blanket around it. A person is visible standing to the right of the frame, wearing dark blue, but only part of their mid-section and hands can be seen.Family picture

Rachel spent the first three months after her daughter's birth at Wrexham Maelor Hospital before she was transferred to a rehabilitation unit

When Rachel was transferred from Wrexham Maelor Hospital to a rehabilitation unit at Clatterbridge hospital on the Wirral, there was some progression.

The family took Freya to see Rachel every day, and spending time with her daughter, learning to understand that she was hers, helped motivate her.

But after many months, Rachel stopped participating in her treatment. It was decided she needed to be at home full-time with her family, and particularly her baby.

"When she came home, she'd copy things Freya was doing," explained Karan, who is also Rachel's main carer.

"When Freya started to walk then Rachel would weight bear more... she'd see Freya doing it and she'd want to do it, we felt."

Karan said the "role reversal" where Rachel learned from her toddler's development made the relationship between mother and daughter "very special".

A woman in her early thirties with a short blonde bob and wearing a long sleeved grey t-shirt with white stripes and a scooped-neck, sits with a baby on her lap. She is smiling into the camera, while resting her cheek on top of the baby's head. The baby, which is a girl of around 8 months old, is also looking into the camera. She has some brown hair visible under the woman's chin and is wearing a pale pink top and a bright pink bib which is embroidered with hearts and letters. A pale wood door with a silver handle, and pale wooden flooring is visible in the background. Family picture

Freya was taken to spend time with Rachel every day when she was at Clatterbridge hospital

Freya has never been involved in Rachel's rehabilitation in a formal sense, but doing ordinary things at home, such as teaching her how to hold a pen, draw and play games to help her improve her fine motor skills has all helped.

Her favourite thing to do with her mum is go shopping, mainly for clothes and cosmetics, something she says she would like them to do "a lot more", so she encourages her mum to practice her walking by pushing the trolley.

But they also love just being together at home, watching funny films - Bridget Jones is a favourite.

"We laugh a lot," said Freya. "When I come home from school... I'm always laughing with her."

A woman with brown hair and blond highlights, pulled back off her face and wearing a while long sleeves top with a black geometric pattern sits at a table with a girl of about 10 years old who has long straight brown hair. They have a game of Connect Four set up in front of them, with its blue frame and red and yellow counters. About half of the frame is already filled with counters, and the woman is about to insert a red counter into the top the frame and is looking at her hand. The girl is holding a yellow counter and watching the woman's hand as she holds the counter over the slot. An oak coloured sideboard is visible to the right of the picture, which has a box of tissues and some papers on top. Family picture

Playing games with her mum is one of the ways Freya has been helping her to improve her fine motor skills

Freya said her mum's mobility improvements mean the family has been able to go on holiday abroad, creating treasured memories.

"We went in the pool a lot, we were always playing around... I carried her in the pool sometimes and she carried me a lot," said Freya.

Karan said seeing the two of them doing ordinary mum and daughter activities has been "really touching".

"All the other families around, they don't realise how special it was for Rachel and Freya being in that pool together, it really was special."

A woman in her forties with dark blonde hair which is pulled back, stands in a blue shimmering swimming pool in the sunshine with the water almost up to her shoulders. She is smiling and her eyes are closed. She is holding on to a teenage girl who has long brown hair, which is wet, and who is facing mostly towards the woman. The girl is in the water up to her neck and both of their bodies and limbs are not clearly visible, as they are distorted by the water.Family picture

Rachel and Freya spent lots of time 'playing around' in the pool on holiday in Portugal

Rachel has worked regularly with a private physiotherapist who specialises in brain injury. Not available through the NHS, it is paid for by ongoing fundraising by family and friends.

Her progress over the years, says Karan, has been gradual but striking. She has gone from being unable to sit up or speak to walking, communicating and enjoying life.

She also credits Rachel's sister, Emma, and her family, for contributing to her recovery.

"An occupational therapist told us Rachel won't thrive in this environment. [At the time] we had two toddlers, a five-year-old, they were here a lot.

"They said it was too noisy, too busy. They advised us to put her in a nursing home. That wasn't going to happen.

"She wouldn't be where she is if we'd have gone down that route."

The image is taken in a stairwell with white walls, grey carpet and chrome handrails with glass inserts. It shows a woman with light brown hair, tied back and wearing a black t-shirt with a pink logo and light coloured joggers at the top of the stairs, she has her right hand on the rail and is holding the hand of another woman who is a few steps below her facing upwards. They are both looking down towards the steps. The woman who is facing upwards is wearing black trousers and a black t-shirt and has dark brown hair in a bun with a fringe and is wearing brown framed glasses. Family picture

Rachel still works regularly with her specialist physiotherapist

Dr Colin Pinder, a consultant in neurological rehabilitation at Clatterbridge, agrees Rachel's move home to be with her family was crucial to her progression.

"There always comes a point when somebody who is significantly impaired is better off being in their own environment, in Rachel's case with her own child."

He added that what had happened to her had been a "tragedy" but that she had "come a long way since", even "very proudly" walking into his clinic for the first time for a recent appointment.

Like Karan, he said Freya had been an "integral" part of her mum's recovery.

A woman of about 60, a teenage girl and a woman in her forties sit in a row on a tan leather sofa. The older woman wears a blue top with white flowers with a scoop neck and three quarter length sleeves, and pale blue jeans. She has a short blonde highlighted bob with a fringe and her hands are folded on her lap. She is smiling and looking towards a mobile phone which is being held by the teenager sitting in the middle. The teenager, who is also looking at the phone and smiling, has long dark blonde hair and is wearing a light blue crew neck sweatshirt and light grey jeans, her legs are tucked up onto the sofa. The woman to her right has shoulder-length hair, slightly curled and pulled back from her face. She is touching the phone with a finger of her left hand and looking at the screen while laughing. Her other hand lies in her lap. She is wearing a black dress with long sleeves and white polka dots. The phone case is grey with pink flowers. To the right of the picture, a framed picture of two people is visible, and the corner of a radiator. To the left, part of a cream and mustard patterened cushion can be seen on the sofa.

Karan, Freya and Rachel love looking at their holiday pictures and hope they will be able to go again maybe next year

Freya says the way her mum continues to work on her recovery makes her feel "very proud of her".

Both she and Karan say they hope she will keep progressing but most importantly, they say they just want her to stay healthy.

"Whether she'll get to where we are, we don't know," said Karan. "She's exceeded expectations. She's carried on, amazed us all."

As for her granddaughter, she said Freya is "a mini-Rachel... amazing... just like her mum".

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