By Mark McGoldrick
ALL across the country, people do amazing things to help others. Inspirations come in all walks of life but there is none more so than Belnaleck’s Sarah Moon.
In 2019, Sarah’s son suffered a brain injury, a condition which affects his life on a day-to-day basis.
Despite facing her own difficulties, the selfless Sarah put her own troubles aside to help others suffering from brain injuries by writing a children’s novel, ‘Rua’s sore head.’
The fiction novel, funded by charities Brain Injuries Matter and the National Lottery Community Fund, paints a picture of what it is like for families living with a brain injury and the challenges the condition poses for people in today’s society.
Sarah feels very privileged to have been afforded the opportunity to help others.
“I am buzzing about it. It has been absolutely brilliant,” she chuckles proudly.
“”From one small idea, it has absolutely mushroomed. It makes me so happy that it has been so well received and that it is not just people who are living with a brain injury that get it. The Education Authority are very impressed and think it is a positive story to include people no matter what the circumstances are. I couldn’t be happier. To think it is going to a wider audience than I ever thought it would be, is the icing on the cake for me.”
Sarah’s novel was officially launched to the public last Saturday in Belfast but the project of development has been ongoing since 2020.
“We started to notice that he needed a wee bit of support around emotional needs and that sort of thing. Our Pediatrician referred us to an organisation in Belfast called ‘Brian Injury Matters’. They work with families all across Northern Ireland for children and adults who have brain injuries. We thought this was great, happy days, and we went up to them.
“They came up with support, strategies and help for a child over a course of a year and they ran a lot of courses online over the past year, quizzes and competitions for seasons, like Christmas competitions and Spring competitions.
“For the Christmas event, they said that they would love if families would take part and it is not just themselves. If anyone wants to prepare something or send in a wee drawing or poem, that would be really appreciated.
“I had got to the fact that we had received so much support from them that I wanted to do something to say thanks so I was thinking about what I could do that would be nice to present.”
Sarah put her thinking cap on and she settled on writing a children’s novel which depicted the struggles that come as a result of a brain injury.
The Belnaleck native pitched her idea to the Brain Injury Matters committee and the group was immediately keen to work with the idea.
“It dawned on me then, following our normal routine at home, that something we do every night is read stories. I didn’t know of any stories out there that people with brain injuries could refer to and as it was coming up to Christmas, I thought that the world is my oyster here and I was sure that I could think up of something because there is so many lovely characters out there in relation to Christmas that families know and children know and grown ups can all relate to.
“I sat myself down and said that I was going to make a Christmas themed story which was nice, funny, positive and cheerful, while having a bit of information in it in relation to brain injury.
“I presented it on a PowerPoint template with a festive background. All it was was the words of the story so the staff there thought it was special and said it was something they wanted to develop further. They applied for funding through the National Lottery Community Fund for a whole project to get it illustrated and we were working towards Christmas. I went up in December 2020 and they aimed for a Christmas 2021 launch.”
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