Grease is the Word

My name is Ivan, I have lived at Swanborough House since 1996, long before it was a brain injury unit. When the new company took over, they kind of inherited me along with the home and furniture. At first, there were only two of us, the first friend I made still lives here and we both remember the old original shower curtains.

When I was a little boy in 1979, I was in a car accident and ended up in a coma for a few weeks. It was my mother who was there for me at that time. She visited me in hospital after the car accident and brought a tape to play all the music from the film ‘Grease’. I loved the film and had watched it a number of times at the pictures. My mum kept playing the tape every time she visited and eventually it must have got through to me as I came out of the coma.

I have loved the film Grease ever since. I still watch it to this day and also anything starring John Travolta. My mum lives just down the road from Swanborough House. She often visits and gives us loads of prizes for our bingo and raffle games.

This place is my home. I like being in an independent flat within Swanborough House, I get to cook with a bit of help from the staff and go out shopping, as well as enjoying my puzzles and some of the group activities. I will always enjoy watching films, especially ‘Grease’, which helped me through some tough times in my life, and as John Travolta would say, the movie is ‘electrifying’.