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A father forgot his entire family after a stranger attacked him in front of his wife and young children on Christmas Eve
Ian Grimes was lucky to survive after suffering brain damage and needing an operation to save his life.
The 40-year-old man was with his wife Bethan and their three children on his way home to Ellesmere Port when a man attacked him and he fell to the ground.
Ian’s head hit the pavement, causing a brain hemorrhage, a skull fracture and a paralyzed right vocal cord, reports the Mirror.
He was rushed to the Walton Neurological Center in Liverpool, where doctors removed parts of his skull to relieve pressure on his brain.
When she awoke from the coma, she didn’t remember Bethan, her daughter Penny, five, or her sons Casper, three, and Rufus, two.
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After leaving the hospital, Ian had to learn to speak and read again.
He now suffers from a variety of health problems including hearing problems, dizziness, depression, anxiety, and amnesia.
But Ian says he is determined to enjoy Christmas with his family this year.
He said: “I am lucky to even be able to reflect on what happened. Christmas may never be the same, you will always have haunting memories.
“But it is a reminder that I am a survivor.”
He said that wonderful people had mobilized to help him after the attack, adding: “Christmas is about remembering the positive aspects of the year, being with the people you love and appreciating everything you have.
“Its a lot for me”.
Dental nurse Bethan, 32, is now her husband’s full-time caregiver, unable to return to work after the attack.
She said that he is getting stronger and is positive about the future.
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She faces many medical appointments in the new year, but until then the family, from Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, are taking a break to enjoy Christmas.
They have been supported by the Liverpool-based Brain Charity, which helps people with brain injuries and neurological conditions receive legal advice and financial support.
And they back their Sixmas appeal, thebraincharity.org.uk/whats-on/sixmas-appeal, to support one in six people in the UK with a neurological condition.
In October, Ian’s attacker, Sean Jenkinson, 28, of Ellesmere Port, was jailed for two years after unintentionally admitting to GBH.
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