Claire Cooper was a pianist, but a horrible car accident changed her life forever. Now he can’t let his mind go even as he swims as he begins to inhale water.
Before her accident, Claire Cooper was like any busy woman with multiple tasks. But today he can’t even walk and talk at the same time.
Mrs. Cooper, 58, used to be a classical pianist before a life-changing accident nine years ago, which happened while cycling to work at the University of Melbourne. While on a separate bike lane, she was hit by a car whose driver, texting at the time, passed a red light.
The Victorian does not remember what happened that day, nor the two months before the accident, nor the three months after.
He was in a coma for about three weeks and about four months in the hospital in total. Her first memories of that time were being in the hospital and complaining about her feeding tube, as well as getting a daily pass to return home.
“I’ve lost about five months of memory, I don’t remember waking up,” Ms. Cooper told news.com.au.
The accident left her with six broken ribs, a collapsed lung, a broken tendon in her shoulder and a broken pelvis that had to be rebuilt with three needles and a metal plate.
A brain injury also left her with spasticity all over her right side, which impacts her tongue and “that’s why it sounds pi ** to me all the time.”
After waking up, Mrs. Cooper had double vision initially and had to learn to walk and talk again. At first he fell a lot because he had problems with balance and spasticity in his leg. Nor can he do two things at once because if his mind wanders, he will be unable to complete what he is doing.
“Even now with basics I have to focus,” he said.
“I had to teach myself to swim again and breathe underwater. If I clean and think of something else, I inhale water.”
Nine years after her accident, Mrs. Cooper still takes five times longer than before to complete basic tasks. Even pouring water into a teapot can go wrong if you start thinking about something else.
“I need to focus, I’ve always been a fast person with multiple tasks, but no longer,” he said.
“I’m also tired of the brain injury, so I spend half a day on the couch recovering from doing basic things. It’s affected my life in every way you can imagine.”
Her emotional control has also been affected and Mrs. Cooper now has a tendency to laugh at times when she is nervous or uncomfortable. At her father’s funeral, Mrs. Cooper sat in the back of the church instead of her family in front, because she wasn’t sure if that would be a problem.
“In the end it was okay, but you never know,” he said.
Interestingly, the ability of Ms. Cooper to see the music reading was not affected by his accident, which he describes as “extraordinary”, although he can no longer work as a classical pianist.
Her game now sounds like “shit,” but Ms. Cooper still enjoys practicing and gradually improving.
“I think in 30 years I’ll be playing at the level of a 10-year-old,” he said.
Her accident also made her realize the “inherent snobbery” that the musicians were dealing with.
“When you’re a musician, people take on things about you, about your intelligence, your ability, or something like that,” he said.
But after her brain injury, Ms. Cooper said she thought people often thought she was a little stupid, especially if they heard her say her words.
“There’s an inherent snobbery about how people treat musicians that I hadn’t noticed,” he said.
However, being so close to death has changed his view.
“It makes you worry less about the little things, I don’t give a shit what people think of me, although it could also be because I’m 58 now too,” he said.
It is important to note that Ms. Cooper believes that her piano training has helped her to appreciate the small incremental improvements she has made through repetition and practice.
“I’m still finding improvement even after nine years, but you have to practice the way you do with the piano, and I still practice the piano, which is a fantastic brain job.”
Ms Cooper will be addressing the National Brain Injury Conference in Sydney this month via Zoom and says her message is that people can improve.
“Improvement is possible and I think that sense of hope is really important,” he said.
It is estimated that more than one in three people will suffer a brain injury in their lifetime, while one in 10 will suffer a life-changing injury.
After suffering a brain injury herself, Ms. Cooper has noticed how many others around her are also dealing with the disease.
He also believes that finding the right treatment helps, as every brain injury can be different, so it should not be treated with a single plan.
“I understand why they do it, but it doesn’t always work and it’s been hard for me to figure out what works for me,” he said.
“It’s a little weird at 49 to have to learn all these things again, but what happens with the improvement is that you have to keep working on it,” he said.
“It won’t go away on its own, but if you work at it, it keeps getting better and I think that’s a very important message.”