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Woman sustains a Traumatic Brain Injury while walking her dog

  • 18.09.2020
  • JessicaMG
  • Personal-injury
  • Brain Injury Personal Injury head injury traumatic brain injury

A reality TV star from New Zealand has been left unable to walk or pour herself a cup of coffee after suffering a traumatic brain injury earlier this year.  

28-year-old Bel Clarke – who was a participant on the NZ version of Married at First Sight – was due to pick up her mother from the airport on 19 July but decided to walk her dog beforehand.  

While out walking, her dog ran underneath Bel’s legs and caused her to lose balance. She fell backwards and hit her head on a concrete footpath. Describing the feeling when she regained consciousness as though ‘someone was repeatedly bashing’ on her brain, she managed to walk herself home and even drove to the airport to collect her mother. Bel said she blacked out several times during the journey and so took herself to hospital later that day.  

Doctors diagnosed her with a concussion and sent her home to rest. Bel said: 'If I could describe it, it would be my brain is coming out of my eyes and my ears, and I was just screaming in pain. I have endometriosis which is really bad, I thought I'd experienced bad pain, and I have not.' 

Just days later she was rushed back to hospital by family members, where doctors told her that she had suffered a traumatic brain injury. Bel now uses a walking-frame and her speech is slurred, she also now suffers with chronic migraines and memory loss.