On Wednesday, leading players from Melbourne Victory Football Club visited patients from the Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) Unit of Epworth Hospital, ahead of Friday night’s clash at AAMI Park between Melbourne Victory and ladder leaders Central Coast Mariners, who’ll be playing for the annual Epworth ABI Cup.
On Wednesday, leading players from Melbourne Victory Football Club visited patients from the Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) Unit of Epworth Hospital, ahead of Friday night-s clash at AAMI Park between Melbourne Victory and ladder leaders Central Coast Mariners, who-ll be playing for the annual Epworth ABI Cup.
The Epworth ABI Cup is supported by Melbourne Victory-s major partner, TAC, and aims to raise awareness of acquired brain injuries and educate the public about the importance of road safety. Research suggests that approximately every four days, somebody in Victoria suffers a severe brain injury in a road crash, which results in profound and irreversible changes to their lives.
As part of the TAC’s partnership with Melbourne Victory, high profile players including Harry Kewell, Grant Brebner, Leigh Broxham, Danny Allsopp and captain Adrian Leijer attended a physiotherapy session led by widely recognised Epworth Neurological Physiotherapist, Dr Gavin Williams. The players joined in with the unique running group activities and even had a kick around with the staff and patients at the renowned rehabilitation centre.
Following the physiotherapy session, the players then visited a group of road trauma victims rehabilitating at the Epworth Acquired Brain Injury Unit. The patients were thrilled to have the high profile players pay them a visit, which certainly appeared to motivate them and lift their spirits.
Melbourne Victory striker Danny Allsopp said, “it is an extraordinary eye-opener to see what road trauma can do to lives. It is also pleasing that we can play a small part, with the support of TAC, to be involved in today-s activities, which is a great stepping stone for these patients.”
TAC-s Senior Manager, Road Safety and Marketing, John Thompson said, “it was fantastic to see the Victory players engage with TAC clients at Epworth today. We know that the road to recovery and rehabilitation for a lot of those guys at Epworth is very, very long, and having one day where they can turn their minds to something else means a lot.
Friday night-s entertainment starts early at AAMI Park as Epworth HealthCare and Victoria Police play in a curtain raiser game,prior to the feature of Melbourne Victory taking on Central Coast Mariners at 8pm.
