Long recovery after thong slip causes brain injury

"I FELT like I was locked in a cage for 18 months. I could understand what was happening, but I just couldn't articulate anything."

Graeme Gates knows his experience is one shared by 1.6million Australians with a brain injury.

After two-and-a-half years of relentless work to retrain his mind and body, the Toowoomba father-of-two is finally able to share his story.

Life was turned upside down when Graeme and his wife Paula were moving house from Dubbo to Ipswich in January, 2012.

Of all things, it was a slippery thong that caused the whole ordeal. Graeme was moving boxes into his new garage when he lost balance and hit his head.

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He was only in hospital for two days. From thereon in, it was up to Paula and their two teenage daughters to bring back the man they loved.

Graeme was "basically mute" and the few words he did say were jumbled. This lasted for months.

He was constantly exhausted and felt nauseous for 18 months - an infuriating turn of events for someone who, before the accident, regularly ran triathlons.

"You don't realise they can understand what's going on, but they can't express it and they can't absorb everything," Paula said.

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Long recovery after thong slip causes brain injury