{"id":26464,"date":"2025-03-11T12:04:38","date_gmt":"2025-03-11T12:04:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/?p=26464"},"modified":"2025-02-11T12:34:25","modified_gmt":"2025-02-11T12:34:25","slug":"ailishs-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/ailishs-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Ailish’s story"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I guess it\u2019s been my whole life. I remember when I was about five having to lift my dad\u2019s head and put it on a pillow because he was having a seizure. I was also looking after my Uncle, who was immobile, couldn\u2019t walk the length of his garden without help. So, I was helping him out because at the time my mum had had a partial amputation of her foot so she couldn\u2019t walk, she couldn\u2019t do anything really. He unfortunately passed away, and my gran and grandad become quite ill, and they couldn\u2019t do much for themselves. They couldn\u2019t leave the house really, so I was basically running up and down making sure they were ok and had everything they needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now it\u2019s my dad. He\u2019s got a brain injury. He fell down a flight of stairs and hit his head off a brick wall and he\u2019s got a metal plate in his skull. He gets seizures but they are unpredictable, he can\u2019t pinpoint when they will happen, or what triggers them. It just happens. Just the other day I was looking at him and I froze. It comes on so quickly, you don\u2019t even know what is happening. It was scary. My mum was obviously in the kitchen and couldn\u2019t get through quick enough, so it was me who helped him. I had to sit and watch what happened next – I needed to monitor how long the seizures lasted. There is the pressure of like, well I\u2019m not a doctor, so I don\u2019t always know what\u2019s the best thing to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s quite a lot of pressure to put on yourself to always be doing better. But I do think it\u2019s quite a good thing, because you\u2019re always striving to be the best version of yourself. You can look back, but you can\u2019t really have much self -pity because you need to have sympathy for others, not yourself. That\u2019s what we do. We aren\u2019t allowed to have time. We\u2019re not allowed to look after ourselves as much as we do others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One thing that people always forget is that being a young carer means that you bond more with your family because you\u2019re comfortable with them, and you spend so much time together. So, you have that extra bond that some kids might not have with their parents or family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

This story has been shared in connection with the ALLIANCE’s ‘Stories of Caring, A Concert for Caring Special’<\/a> showcasing the different experiences of care and caring in Scotland.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I guess it\u2019s been my whole life. I remember when I was about five having to lift my dad\u2019s head and put it on a pillow because he was having a seizure. I was also looking after my Uncle, who was immobile, couldn\u2019t walk the length of his garden without help. So, I was helping … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":109,"featured_media":26465,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"26456,26254,26124,24164,25192,26170","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"hos-category":[743],"humans_tags":[577],"area_of_work":[776],"strategic_priority":[813],"class_list":["post-26464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","hos-category-concert-for-caring-special","humans_tags-young-adult-carer","area_of_work-humans-of-scotland","strategic_priority-voice-of-lived-experience"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAilish's story - Humans of Scotland<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/ailishs-story\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ailish's story - Humans of Scotland\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I guess it\u2019s been my whole life. 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