A HEREFORDSHIRE mum has told of her 41-year-old son's fight to walk and talk again after six months in a coma.

Mikey Jarrett collapsed in August 2020 with a bleed on his brain.

After initially being taken to Hereford County Hospital, he then spent six months in a coma in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham.

Mr Jarrett, who was 39 when he had the aneurysm, was then transferred to Inspire, a specialist neurocare unit in Worcester, where he learned to talk again, and started to take a couple of steps.

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He is now settling into Pirton Grange, a nursing home in Worcestershire, that cares for adults with acquired brain injuries.

His family hope he’ll continue his progress there and will eventually be able to return home to Ledbury.

“One day he was relatively healthy then all of a sudden he collapsed.

It was a bit of a shock,” said Roz Jarrett, Mr Jarrett's mum.

“The whole time he was in Birmingham we didn’t see him at all,” she said.

“The first time we did, he didn’t recognise us.

"Thanks to the work they did with him at Inspire by the third or fourth time we saw him he was able to fully recognise us.

Hereford Times:

“His short-term memory is not good but his long-term memory is really good now and you can have a good conversation with him about things that happened in the past.

"He can’t walk yet; he can only take a couple of steps. We’re hoping with some more physio that he’ll progress even more.”

Mr Jarrett, who loves music, golf and watching Arsenal, has his ups and down, says his mum. But he is positive and chirpy.

“Years ago he had cancer and we were told then he wouldn’t survive. Quietly, he’s a bit of a fighter.”

Hereford Times:

Mr Jarrett raised more than £10,000 for cancer charities after undergoing treatment himself. Now it is his brother, David Jarrett, raising much-needed funds to help his sibling's recovery.

Mrs Jarrett thanked local traders for supporting the family’s fundraising efforts.

“Ledbury people have been marvelous in what they’re doing, we’re very lucky to live here,” she said.

“The Jarretts are well known in town and people will often stop us in the street and ask how Mikey is doing. It’s remarkable what everyone is doing for Mikey.

“Before the cancer, he used to work in a hotel in Hereford and he loved his job. He’s a people person and he enjoyed meeting so many people.”

  • A raffle was held on the Facebook page of the Cabello salon, the Homend, Ledbury, to raise funds for Mr Jarrett. The winner is revealed here.