The Child Brain Injury team’s Peak District challenge!

On 16 September, ten members of the Child Brain Injury team travelled from London to Hathersage, Derbyshire, to complete a 36km walking challenge in the Peak District all in aid of raising funds for The Child Brain Injury Trust (CBIT).

As a firm, we have a long-standing relationship with CBIT, an excellent charity that provides vital support to children who have experienced an acquired brain injury. Over the years, we’ve taken part in many fundraising initiatives from abseiling to Tough Mudder events, but hill walking in the Peak District was a new challenge for all of us!

Why The Child Brain Injury Trust?

As a charity, CBIT supports brain injured children and their families all over the UK, providing a multitude of services.

As specialist child brain injury lawyers, we know how life changing it is for families when a child sustains a brain injury. Often, we’re told by parents that in hospital or in rehabilitation units, the support their child receives is excellent, but once that child is well enough to go home, this provision and support falls away and there is very little guidance for families on what to expect and how to go back to their new, but normal, everyday lives.

This is where CBIT steps in. With their acquired brain injury (ABI) coordinators, they work one to one with children, parents, siblings and care givers, to offer dedicated and tailored support. This support is provided in many forms.

A few examples of the work that CBIT does are set out below:

• Financial advice
  • In our work, we often see that when a child sustains a brain injury, one of the parents or care givers has to reduce their work, or give up their work entirely, to manage the child’s complex needs, often leading to significant financial stress. To ease this financial burden, CBIT arrange for families to have a free benefits review to ensure they are receiving all of the financial support they’re entitled too. They can also assist with preparing applications for funding for children to receive specialist private therapy, or costly equipment that isn’t available on the NHS.

• Education
  • Education is another stumbling block that parents of children with brain injuries often come across. Although all children have a right to access education, in practice, this right is not always respected. As child brain injury lawyers with expertise regarding special educational needs and Education, Health and Care Plans, we’ve worked for many children who’ve faced barriers with their education solely because of their brain injuries. The team at CBIT understand the importance of education for young people with acquired brain injuries. Their ABI coordinators will act on behalf of parents and care givers, liaising with the education providers, healthcare providers and therapists to integrate the child back into education ensuring the injured child receives the provision they need.

• Counselling
  • To help manage the trauma of acquired brain injury, CBIT also provide a counselling service to all families registered with the Trust. This service is available to children with acquired brain injuries, their parents, care givers and their siblings. We hear first hand from the parents of our clients just how beneficial this service is and the difference it makes.

The Challenge

Above are just a few of the ways in which CBIT help families across the country. Aware of CBIT’s incredible work, Cheryl Abrahams, Partner in our child brain injury team and a special ambassador to the charity, organised and coordinated this event within the department. She had no trouble recruiting participants willing to raise as much as possible to support this fantastic charity.

Our training started early on with the guidance of a Personal Trainer who created bespoke training programmes for us to minimise the risk of injury. We had all been on various walks in and around London to build up our fitness levels and time on our feet because we knew the challenge would involve walking for 8-10 hours.

Our initial plan was to take a route around the Three Reservoirs, Ladybower, Howden and Derwent, but due to tree falling in the area, we had a quick change of route at the last minute. Fortunately, our guides, part of Freshwalks, were able to work out a new route for us, but in order to get in the distance required, this new route meant more hill walking and more elevation!

Still, we were undeterred, and as the day of the challenge dawned, we were greeted with beautiful blue skies, a cool breeze and the first frost of  autumn. We met our guides and set off bright and early at 08:00.

Our route started in the beautiful village of Hathersage. From there, we made our way through fields of sheep to the next village of Grindleford. After a quick stop, we entered woodland at Padley Gorge. It was then that we started our ascent to Longshaw Estate before entering the stunning moorland at Burbage Rocks. We climbed for miles over large rocks and boulders, taking in the fresh air and the spectacular views of the hills and Ladybower Reservoir before stopping for a quick picnic lunch at Stanage Edge.

After lunch, we continued our route along Bamford Edge before descending onto heather filled moorland and eventually, arrived at Ladybower itself.

The route then changed. No longer hills or moorland, we were now back to woodland, and it wasn’t long before we found ourselves looping back to our starting point, the village of Hathersage, arriving at around 5pm where, after a fantastic day, climbing over 1,500 ft and walking 36km, we all had a well-deserved rest in the pub!

Our experience

As proud supporters of the Child Brain Injury Trust, we were thrilled to complete this challenge on behalf of such a fantastic charity. We know that the funds we’ve raised will go towards providing key support to children and their families. If you’d like to sponsor us for this endeavour, there’s still time! All donations can be made via the team’s JustGiving page.

As a team of specialist child brain injury lawyers, we represent children who have suffered brain injuries in accidents or through clinical negligence.

If your child has sustained a brain injury and you’re concerned that they may have a potential claim, do contact me, free of charge for a confidential chat on 020 7288 4854, or at laurarobertson-hayes@boltburdonkemp.co.uk.