Hi, I’m Andy Williamson. I’m from England and I’ve been living in Belgium since 1991, though I first got to know this amazing country in the 1970s. After more than 25 years working as an RE teacher in Flemish schools here in Belgium (yes, strange I know, but you did read that right!) my life changed overnight.
In 2017 I had a stroke, a non-traumatic brain injury, which left me with a serious visual impairment.
I live in Tervuren, together with my wife, two of our four grown-up children, a cat, a guide dog and an aquarium full of tropical fish.
My enthusiasm for life and for the written word is thankfully still intact, though since my stroke I can no longer type efficiently. Instead I use speech recognition software and other accessibility aids.
I began to write again in the days immediately following my stroke, at first with a ballpoint pen in an old school exercise book.
Some of the things I wrote back then were shared on Facebook, while others weren’t. It was suggested that I do something with them.
In the period immediately following my brain injury I searched on the Internet for people who’d had a similar experience. I wanted to read their stories and hopefully learn to cope better with my own.
To start with I had two main reasons for writing. I was trying to work out for myself what had happened to me, and I also wanted to let my family and friends know that I was still the same me.
Every brain injury is unique, and has unique consequences, so don’t expect to recognise everything you find here. But some things are always the same for everyone affected. Things like the need of support and understanding from family, friends and those who have had a similar experience. That’s why I’m starting this blog.
I hope you find it helpful.