Matthew Purchase

When Matthew Purchase was shot in the back of the head at point blank range no one expected the 21-year-old to survive.

The accident happened during an organised rabbit hunt while he was on a farmer exchange programme in New Zealand. And when his parents in Dorset got the news they were told to prepare for the worst. They got on a plane for the other side of the world knowing there was a good chance their son would be dead by the time they arrived.

A tough decision faced them. Should they give permission for a neurosurgeon to operate to remove the bullet, lodged behind his right eye, or would their son be left in such a terrible state that it would be best to let nature take its course?

“The surgeon told us that we might not get all of Matthew back but he was hopeful he could give some of him back,” says Ian, Matthew’s father.

The road to recovery has been long and slow but today Matthew is well and truly back. And he and his family attribute it to his determination and his experiences at Glenside Hospital in Salisbury.

Glenside Hospital provides inpatient and outpatient medical care and rehabilitation services to adults who are living with severe physical, cognitive or behavioural impairments resulting from long-term neurological conditions, including acquired or traumatic brain injury.

A team of around 300 staff, including doctors, therapists, psychologists, nurses and support staff work closely with patients to help them return to a more independent lifestyle through the use of neuro-psychology, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech and language therapy and many other therapies.

With their help Matthew, the young man who lost a large amount of the right side of his brain and who doctors thought would be paralysed for life on his left side, has made remarkable improvements.

When he was flown back to the UK in an air ambulance he could barely lift his head off the pillow and after a stay in hospital in Dorset he was still virtually bed bound. His recovery wasn’t helped by the fact that he had developed epilepsy and was having seizures every ten days to two weeks.

But at Glenside that all began to change.

Matthew’s medication was scruitinised and adapted and the seizures reduced to once every six months or so.

“At the other hospital I think they saw me as a hopeless case. At Glenside it was completely different,” says Matthew, now 25. “They saw I had potential and there was no reason why I couldn’t walk again.”

Matthew embarked on a course of intense therapies during his stay at Glenside. He was initially assessed on the Avon Ward and quickly moved on to the Bourne Ward, where he underwent Cognitive Rehabilitation Therapy (CRT), which would become the backbone of his treatment.

After a short time he moved to Newlands House, Glenside’s short/medium term, on site home for neuro rehabilitation, where he had speech therapy, occupational therapy and physiotherapy, which he names as his favourite part of his treatment.

“That had me most motivated,” he says. “I was always very competitive which my physio at Glenside tapped into very quickly. He was always setting me challenges which I absolutely loved.”

Mandy Miller, who was the manager of Newlands House during Matthew’s rehabilitation, said: “He was extremely motivated all the time. He was fun, positive and determined to achieve his own goals. Every member of staff who worked with Matthew feels extremely proud of how well he is now. He calls to let us know how he’s doing which we love.”

For Matthew, the first time he took a quivering step with one physiotherapist supporting and two helping to place his foot was a turning point that he remembers fondly. After 18 months in Glenside the young man who couldn’t even shift his position in bed could walk.

“The person who left Glenside was a very different person to the person who went there,” says Ian, Matthew’s father.

“Miracles do happen. They didn’t expect Matthew to survive and he’s gone on to make a good recovery.”

Matthew has continued to make improvements since leaving the hospital almost two years ago.

He can now walk unaided, plays golf with the help of a special chair, goes clay pigeon shooting and has been doing marketing and accountancy work.

He lives in a converted cottage on his parents’ farm in Wimborne and has a carer to help him. He will be going to college to study smallholding in January.

Matthew has got plenty of plans for the future - one that many feared he would never see. He explains: “My ambition is to become as independent as possible and continue as my life would have been.”