Elvin can’t remember the exact date of the incident that changed his life, and left him with an acquired brain injury, but he remembers the details of his story from that moment until today with so much clarity.
“I didn’t think they were going to shoot me, but that was the beginning, everything changed when they shot me.”
Elvin was born and lived in Honduras for most of his life along with his wife and 3 children. In 2017 while riding his motorbike to work the most unbelievable of incidents happened, Elvin was shot in the back when he took a wrong turn, which aside from injuries associated with the incident, also caused him to have a stroke – leading to a loss of vision and physical movement.
It was after this that Elvin and his family commenced the long journey to eventually arrive in Adelaide through the help of a humanitarian visa, which started sometime in 2019.
“Firstly I was sent to Costa Rica and I was there for 14 months, but I wasn’t able to have much therapy because of the start of the pandemic, so I only had physio 2 times. The clinic I was supposed to go to had to start helping people with covid, and since I was considered to be at high risk they preferred me to not come to the clinic. So while they did try to do therapy with me, they couldn’t because of covid. After 14 months there I came to Adelaide.”
Elvin’s introduction to Adelaide also wasn’t a smooth one with Elvin having to overcome many different barriers, the first being the need for him to quarantine in hospital while his family quarantined in a hotel, and then hospital not having any information about him on his stroke when he arrived, including that he did not speak English.
“They didn’t have the information on me in hospital that I had a vision impairment and could not see what was in front of me. They would bring in meals and place them in front of me but I never ate because I couldn’t see the meals or manage to feed myself with the spoon they gave me. It took a bit of time until they realised that I needed help with this task, and I found it frustrating that I had to keep starting again with new staff all the time, telling them what my needs are. But I did keep going, because of my wife and kids I kept going.”
Though this was challenging, after 15 days the quarantine period in hospital ended and he moved into other accommodation with his family and was able to finally commence with having therapy at Brain Injury SA.
“At the beginning I was given lots of information about the therapies I was going to have, and then started to slowly do some exercise and therapy. It is a slow process but I feel like I am progressing every day, and discovering something new everyday too.
“This year I am hoping to achieve more independence, that is one of my goals. I want to try to do everything by myself and not ask people to take me here and there, and to walk without fear of falling.”
“I am seeing many people and having many therapies, but I also like to go to bowling group. It might look very silly just to go to bowling… but every time I go to bowling, I feel and learn something different. And meeting other people has made a difference too, though I wish I can speak English, because the others do try to communicate with me, but because of my language it is very hard. But I still enjoy going to the group and being with other people and learning new things.”
“I am very grateful for this country – I enjoy everything they offer me. And here [Brain Injury SA] the staff are very nice, even the people around me they try to build a community – I think one day I will achieve my goal to learn English because of this.”
Though there are hard times, including times when he battles with depression, Elvin says he balances the good and the bad by ensuring the good is much heavier and more prominent than the bad in his day, and shares his positivity and gratitude of his life here in Australia.
In the early days Elvin says he would “look at the roof and ask how did this happen?” when frustration took over, feeling like his goals and life had ended in that moment. But he remembers that God was with him in those early days, as he is now, and he feels more secure.
Reflecting on his life so far, Elvin explains “my story isn’t yet finished. There are lots of things to go and do and see in Australia – lots of beautiful things to discover. And my children, I hope I can see them grow to be intelligent and I want to see them grow up to be good people too.”