THE sister of brain injury victim Myles Gavey has today launched a petition to put pressure on Health to fund her brother’s rehabilitation. Specialist rehab in the UK would significantly increase the 18-year-old’s chance of living a normal life

Alex Gavey, 20, will present the signatures to Health minister Peter Roffey and chief officer David Hughes at the department’s weekly meeting on Tuesday.

‘I’m doing this because he’s my brother and he would do the same for me,’ said Miss Gavey.

‘He would get things started and he would help out in the same way as I’m helping him.’

Miss Gavey wanted people to know that anyone could find themselves in her brother’s situation.

‘It’s not just my brother who needs to be sent to the UK for rehabilitation – HSSD needs the funds for other people.

‘I would like the States to realise there is more than one person with a head injury in a year.

‘It’s about making people in Guernsey realise that this is not just our issue – it could happen to anyone,’ she said.

Miss Gavey plans to have 40 volunteers posted around the island collecting signatures between 11am and 1pm today.

‘Each will be wearing a bandage on their head because a brain injury is a hidden injury and that’s the only way people are going to realise what this petition is about,’ she added.

Miss Gavey felt she had to do something for her brother given the funding issue.

‘I feel like I can fight a bit of the battle. I just want people to come and sign this petition because Myles needs them,’ she said.

Myles’s mother, Simone Gavey, 40, said the treatment would give her son a 90% chance of a better future, as opposed to just 40% without it.

‘I know it won’t be 100% but I want to give him the best possible chance.’

‘There are people in the UK who are specialists who have years of experience.

‘He would be in a place where he can get that specialist treatment and have the best possible recovery, which is why we are fighting to get him sent back to the UK,’ said Mrs Gavey, a carer for the elderly.

‘If he gets the rehabilitation he needs, his treatment will be more intense.’ she said.

Shelaine Green, who chairs brain injury charity Headway Guernsey, confirmed that a period of specialist rehab would increase Mr Gavey’s likelihood of living a normal life.

‘He will stand a much better chance of getting back to work,’ said Miss Green.

‘Paying benefits for the rest of his life will be significantly more expensive than paying for rehab now.

‘The Allan Grut rehab ward at the King Edward VII Hospital is for the elderly. It will distress Myles to be surrounded by old people and he will try to leave.

‘The two consultants at Allan Grut are not neuro-specialists – they are geriatricians,’ she said.

Miss Green said a UK brain injury rehab unit would assess Mr Gavey’s needs and design a programme for him.

‘They will aim to minimise the long-term effects of his injury, teach him strategies to manage any lasting difficulties and help him come to terms with the new person he’s become,’ she said.