SameYou Trustee in BBC film about recovery

SameYou Trustee, musician and broadcaster, Clemency Burton-Hill, is featured in a new BBC documentary, My Brain: After the Rupture, highlighting her recovery after a devastating brain injury.

The BBC2 film, which will be aired on Friday, March 28 at 9pm GMT, starts on a bright January morning in 2020, when 38-year-old Clemmie suffers a catastrophic brain haemorrhage. Against the odds she emerged from a 17-day coma but, unable to speak or walk, she was faced with having to rebuild her life.

Using recordings from the early days of her recovery set across New York and London, My Brain: After the Rupture, follows Clemmie as she tries to return to her work as a broadcaster, to finish the book she’d started before her brain injury, and to play her beloved violin again, with her young son.

Interweaving footage of her rehabilitation with touching home movies, the film focuses on resilience, rediscovery and identity.

Watch the film Donate

In The News

SameYou has been shortlisted for the British Diversity Awards Charity of the Year award

SameYou has been shortlisted for the British Diversity Awards Charity of the Year award

We are thrilled to announce that SameYou has been shortlisted for the Charity or Nonprofit of the Year award at the British Diversity Awards.

The event promotes diversity, equity, and inclusion by recognizing those individuals and organizations who continually strive to make workplaces and society more inclusive for all.

The winner will be officially announced on March 19 at an event in London.

Jenny Clarke MBE, Co-Founder and CEO, says: 'We are delighted to be nominated for this year’s British Diversity Awards. SameYou firmly believes everyone deserves equal opportunities and respect, and we work hard to champion those rights for brain injury survivors all over the world.'

The British Diversity Awards believe that by celebrating our differences, and those who work so hard to level the playing field, it helps to make the UK a better place to live and work.

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SameYou Advocate Chiara speaks at the UK Stroke Forum

SameYou Advocate Chiara speaks at the UK Stroke Forum

SameYou Advocate, Chiara Beer, took part in a panel discussion focused on young stroke survivors at the UK Stroke Forum, outlining the challenges to healthcare professionals.

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Spread some holiday cheer during our gift appeal

Spread some holiday cheer during our gift appeal

Brain injury happens in an instant. It doesn’t just happen to the brain but to the whole person - and everyone around them. Whether it's a one-time or recurring gift, your contribution through SameYou's Gift Appeal supports our vision to transform the way brain injury survivors and their loved ones are helped through emotional, mental health and cognitive recovery services.

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Survivor Stories

Many of you have written to SameYou about your experience of brain injury and told us how you identified with Emilia's story. There was a common feeling of relief about hearing a familiar story from someone young, and speaking out to normalize the injury. People were comforted that Emilia had gone through something similar to them or to a family member or loved one.

The overwhelming emotion was of gratitude that Emilia was breaking her silence and that enabled and emboldened so many others to tell their brain injury story - some for the first time. It was as if people now have permission to speak out about their story.

I get days when I just want to give up. But after hearing your story it has made me realize, I'm not on my own!

You have told us that by sharing your stories, and reading other people's, offers hope, comfort and much needed peer-to-peer support that is often hard to find.

SameYou have created this support resource called Portraits to tell the untold story of brain injury. If you would like to share your story, you can submit your story via our Share your story page.

Portrait: Chris

Portrait: Chris

On Thanksgiving in 1992, Chris Bentley went to sleep and didn’t wake up for three weeks. An undetected cerebral arterial venous malformation (AVM) put massive pressure on his brain, leaving him in a coma. Thankfully, Chris recovered remarkably quickly.

Chris, 41, has now signed up for a new adventure… taking on a grueling 200km cycling route for SameYou’s Ibiza Bike & Hike event this month. He says: “I’m hoping that participating in the Ibiza Bike & Hike event will help me break free from looking at my brain injury simply as a challenge to overcome and instead recognize it deep inside as a unique experience that has taught me a new way of living.”

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Portrait: Julie

Portrait: Julie

In April 2016 double vision and throbbing headaches forced me to visit an eye specialist. As a technical translator I was permanently working with two computer screens simultaneously. Perhaps I just needed new glasses. Unfortunately, I didn’t get away with it that easily.

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Portrait: Walter

Portrait: Walter

My name is Walter. In November 2018 and at just age 45, I was diagnosed with a vertebral artery dissection and a stroke. Two weeks prior to this, I experienced painful headaches that over-the-counter painkillers couldn't relieve.

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Portrait: James

Portrait: James

James shouldn't even be alive, let alone be able to walk and talk, after an accident in a Paris hotel left his brain so crushed that doctors were forced to remove part of his skull and store it in his abdomen to keep the bone marrow healthy.

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Portrait: Breanna

Portrait: Breanna

My name is Breanna, and I am pursuing my MSc in Cognitive Neuroscience and Human Neuroimaging at the University of Sheffield. In 2021, I experienced an ischemic pontine stroke, which completely transformed my life.

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See more Survivor Stories

This short film tells the stories of brain injury survivors from the survivors themselves

We asked them to tell us how they feel. Some of them have done this for the very first time. We applaud their courage for speaking out. We invite everyone to hear and understand the lived experiences of brain injury and find out what has helped people recover and what is needed to help so many more.