Constance Hall has opened up about her relationship with husband, Denim Cook, sharing that following his motorbike accident in 2020, their relationship has shifted.
"He just completely checked out of life after the accident," she said in a video posted to her social media pages on Tuesday.
"I think when he woke up from the accident, I was very excited. And there was this sort of false [hope]," she continued.
"I spoke to the doctors, and they [said] Dennis doesn't have motivation anymore. The frontal lobe damage has taken any of that away that he might have had before."
Watch: Constance Hall's 2019 TED Talk. Post continues below.
In August 2020, Denim was riding with a friend when he came off his motorcycle and was airlifted to hospital with serious injuries.
The accident left him with a broken back in four places, seven broken ribs, a broken shoulder and foot, two punctured lungs, and two brain injuries. Mercifully, his spinal cord was undamaged.
Once in hospital, Denim was put in a coma. At first, doctors gave the family a "fairly okay" prognosis, given the circumstances.
"They said, 'There's two brain injuries, he's broken his back in four places but the spine looks intact, you're definitely not going to be going home for a couple of weeks - put it that way,'" Constance previously told Mamamia's No Filter.
But the following day, a doctor gave Constance a harsh reality check.
"He looked at me and goes 'I'm sorry, I think you might have the wrong idea about your husband's accident. You're very naïve to think you're going to see him or speak to him again. He's had a very serious accident, he's got two brain injuries. A metal plate, Constance, is drilled into his head. We don't do that for a mild injury,'" Constance recalled.
"I was like, 'What do you mean?' He was like, 'The chances of you ever speaking to your husband again are very mild. If he wakes up, chances are he'll be severely brain damaged.'"
In the end, Denim recovered rapidly, though he now lives with a traumatic brain injury and adynamia, one of the most common side effects following a TBI.
For more from Constance's chat with Mia Freedman, listen to No Filter. Post continues after audio.
It means lack of motivation initiation, where a person may show decreased or lost drive, and have difficulty planning and carrying out activities.
"His psychiatrist said really recently, and it was really clever, 'He loves you. He loves his family. He needs to work for you rather than just getting you and all the things you do and provide... and that's not gonna happen unless he's removed from the family home,'" Constance shared in her recent video.
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