After bleeding in his brain left him struggling with words and numbers, Jonathan Hirons had to give up his job in project management. As he recovered, he decided the world needed to know more about aphasia
t was over lunch with a colleague that Jonathan Hirons began to feel a bit strange. “I couldn’t quite catch what was going on,” he says, “and my words started to go.” Back in the office where he was having meetings, another colleague showed him a document Hirons had worked on and asked him to change something in it. “And I couldn’t.”
Hirons’ language has returned, with help. When we speak over Zoom, he doesn’t have any noticeable speech problems, except when he occasionally forgets a word, smiles and says he’ll remember it tomorrow. In hospital, though, he couldn’t speak at all beyond answering simply “yes” or “no” to doctors, and to his wife, who had come up from their home near Lyme Regis in Dorset.
After about five months, he was able to have a decent conversation, though “it probably took about a year to get really sorted out”. Now, he says: “I’m OK one to one, but in a crowd I still can’t keep up like before. I have to think about what’s being said, or what I have to say, and sometimes it doesn’t come out.” Some days his speech fails. “When I’m tired, that is the worst time and I get jumbled up, or I forget words.” On other days, it’s not a problem. “So it’s not even consistent.
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
‘It was sort of a feeling’: Trump film-maker says he feared trouble at CapitolAlex Holder, who had extensive access to Trump and his family, says he suspected January 6 would be a likely flashpoint
Read more »
‘Twitter is the worst!’: Actor Jessica de Gouw on being in the public eyeThe Australian star talks filming intimacy scenes during lockdown, playing flawed characters and her new relationship.
Read more »
Markets bet central bankers will soon end inflation crusadeIt’s becoming increasingly clear conquering it means a sharp economic downturn. Investors are betting the decision makers will throw in the towel.
Read more »
In Central Australia, these young Indigenous men have their sights set on the world of gamingA group of young Indigenous men have become new players in the world of video game media, creating a new web series produced in the heart of Central Australia.
Read more »
Mick Jagger: My Life As a Rolling Stone review – the singer would hate this documentaryJagger starts the film telling us how he despises the exact rock mythology this cliche-ridden show indulges in. Worse still, it fails to ask difficult questions about his band’s problematic past
Read more »
The eastern suburbs experiment: Grocery innovation’s new test marketSydney’s eastern suburbs have become an experimental playground of new services that don’t exist anywhere else in Australia | hijessicayun
Read more »