Student who forgot thesis after brain injury graduates
PAA PHD student who forgot her entire thesis after sustaining a brain injury in a motorbike accident has graduated.
Three years ago, Emma Lucy Cole, 46, from Taunton, had finished the second year of a PhD in English literature at the University of Bristol when she had a motorbike accident in Iceland that left her with post-concussion syndrome.
Dr Cole was forced to take a year off but was determined to complete her PhD and celebrated doing so at a graduation ceremony on Friday.
"I am extremely relieved to have managed to complete the PhD, with the support of my fantastic supervisors," Dr Cole said.
Dr Cole was also supported by the brain injury charity Headway Somerset, and the university's disabled services created her a study plan with recommended reasonable adjustments and mentoring.
Dr Cole had worked as a lecturer at the university alongside her studies and she also had to give this up while she recovered.
"I was exhausted. But this was a different kind of exhaustion," Dr Cole said of her recovery process.
"My loss of memory meant that I had forgotten all my research and had to go back to my uncompleted thesis with fresh eyes as I couldn't recall what I had done and how I had come to the conclusions I had.
"Financially it was also very challenging because I was unable to work. The university provided some financial support which really helped."
Dr Cole is still affected by the head injury and says there is still "a long way to go yet".
She plans to move to Scotland where she hopes to rediscover her academic writing and teaching career and hopefully work her way back to returning to outdoor activities.
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