Welcome to B.I.G., The Brain Injury Group.B.I.G. is a support group for people who have loved ones with devastating brain injuries. They may be severely disabled, in a persistent vegetative state, minimally aware/conscious or locked in.

B.I.G. was started by Anne, Judy, Lois, Lynne and Sue. We came up with the idea when we got to know each other on the Devonshire Ward, Royal Hospital for Neuro-Disability in Putney. Although there are a number of support networks for brain injured families we wanted to use our personal experiences to establish a network of families to help each other. If this is how you feel, then B.I.G. is for you.

When you find yourself in this situation, after an exhausting stint in the intensive care unit who didn’t go home to research craniectomies, Glasgow coma scale or medications etc? Who didn’t try to find other people who could answer questions, or offer a shoulder to cry on?

That’s what B.I.G. is for. We’ve put our stories here and you’ll probably have had similar experiences. There are some really useful links for help and information and you can download a relative’s guide to impaired consciousness by Dr Martin Coleman. At the heart of B.I.G. is the forum where you can meet other people in this situation, people who know exactly what you’re going through because they’ve been there too. Use the B.I.G. forum to share your story, to ask your questions or give support to others.Most of all use B.I.G. to be amongst others who understand.

When someone you love has this level of severe brain injury life changes for everybody in your family for ever. Don’t face it alone. Take heart and let’s move forward together

Anne, Judy, Lois, Lynne and Sue.