Liam's Journey

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I’ve worked Transport Logistics for the past 25 years. During my career I worked with some of the biggest companies as a transport manager, these companies were the likes of DHL ASDA and my final Job was head of Logistics for BP Oil where I spent my time from 2014 to 2018 leading the operation out of Stanlow refinery. 

This is where my career came to a abrupt stop and my marriage of 10 years came to an end. I have two daughters so I left the family home for the sake of the children. I found a lovely apartment over looking the Mersey, I thought a fresh start was on the horizon, but very quickly my mental health deteriorated. I turned to drinking to block things out and took six month sabbatical from work. In June of 2018, my mental health hit an all time low.  I was seeing my daughters regularly,  but taking them back was pushing me further down, as I missed them so much.  

I then lost my job in June 2018.

I found myself stood on a  bridge waiting fore the tide to come in so I could jump in and end my life, but a stranger, a little old lady walked past with a white scotty dog and talked to me for an hour asking about my daughters, this gave me the strength to climb off the bridge.  She took me home and phoned my family. My family immediately took over, I saw the right people and got back on track.

In the august I met my new partner, she changed my life, and I moved over to the Wirral with her and started a new chapter of my life. My positivity had returned until on the 29th December 2018 I fell down the stairs at home, resulting in suffering a serious brain injury including three fractures and three bleeds on the brain, I was in Walton Neuro hospital for 10 weeks. Whilst  in hospital I suffered a subdural haemorrhage on the left side of my brain and needed emergency surgery. I lost the power of speech walking and didn’t recognise my own two daughters, over time through a stay in a residential brain injury rehabilitation in Liverpool for a further 12 weeks, slowly things came back to me, I stared to walk and even learned to swear again my rehab took most of 2019. 

Mental health became an issue, but I thought to myself... No not again! I went out and found my own help through various charities. 

I wanted to put back into society what the NHS and rehab team who got me to were I am today. I started of as a volunteer at the Martin Gallier Project, which I’m still a part of. One day in January by chance I spoke to a lady, Gill, who listened to my experiences during a counselling session and asked if I could make a meeting the following day. This is how I was born into JourneyMEN. I had no idea what it was about, but I listened intently and I thought I need this in my life, and what better chance than this. I chatted with Phil and his vision for the CIC was ambitious, but not impossible.  I volunteered my services and have never looked back, I can see a future of positives rather than always looking down and wondering what would happen next.

My Journey over the 2 years have been hard. My next journey with JourneyMEN will be a honour.