Appeal for memories to aid 28-year-old Moreton man who has been in a coma for eight months

Jan 21 2009 by Sue McCann, Bromborough and Bebington News

THE sister of a Moreton man, in a coma since May, is appealing for old friends to contribute memories for a scrapbook aimed at helping his recovery.

Jon Jackson, 28, has spent the last eight months of his life battling to survive, after a fall down some stairs at a friend’s flat left him with serious brain injuries.

The prognosis did not look good for the former Wallasey School pupil as he was rushed to intensive care at Walton Hospital’s specialist neuro-surgery ward.

Jon’s sister Claire told the News: “He had massive bleeding on the brain, had quite a lot of surgery over the first 24 hours and was in intensive care for two weeks as they tried to bring him out of a coma.”

In July last year, Jon was moved to Arrowe Park but has remained in a coma ever since.

Claire said: “He was one of those people who was never in.

“He worked at the car wash on Breck Road and he was mad about cars and bikes and football.

“He was always out with friends, having a good time.

“My mum says she’s seen him more in the last eight months than she ever did before the accident.”

In November, doctors told the family that Jon may never recover and could spend the rest of his life in a nursing home.

But there may be some hope on the horizon for the Liverpool fan’s devoted family and friends.

Claire said: “He’s started making some progress, like responding to us asking him to move his arm.

“You don’t see much movement facially, but he’s processing the request which shows there is some function there.

“He started wiggling his toes last week, which doesn’t sound like much, but to us it’s massive.”

As a result of these incidents, Jon is being moved to a specialist rehabilitation unit at Pendine Park in Wrexham to help him progress.

And for the family a big part of this is collecting funny stories and memories from those who crossed paths with Jon, so a scrapbook can be created to help him remember - and for the nurses to see the kind of man he was.

Claire added: “We feel it’s something we want to do for him, because we want him to know what life was like before and that we love him.”

l Contact Claire via c.jackson@fsmail.net