A solicitor’s perspective on life-changing injury

APIL’s Injury awareness week 2025: why it matters

Chandani Patel, Solicitor in the Serious Injury Team, reflects on the importance of APIL’s annual Injury Awareness Week and her recent experience supporting a life-changing case.

Injury Awareness Week 2025 runs from 23 to 27 June and is led by the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL). This not-for-profit organisation is committed to helping those injured through negligence to secure justice and rebuild their lives.

Needless injuries often occur due to the negligence of others, whether through road traffic collisions, unsafe workplaces, substandard medical care, or criminal acts. While some injuries may be minor, others can have life-altering consequences, robbing individuals of their independence, employment, and ability to care for themselves or others. These events can cause not only physical hardship but also emotional and psychological trauma, leaving victims isolated and unheard.

APIL’s research reveals a sobering reality: each year, at least half a million people across the UK are needlessly injured due to someone else’s carelessness. These are not unavoidable accidents, and they are entirely preventable harms that profoundly disrupt lives.

This year’s Injury Awareness Week serves as a reminder that any one of us could find ourselves in this position. It also reinforces the importance of ensuring that those affected receive the support they need, including practical, medical, and legal support.

We are dedicated to guiding our clients through such difficult times with professionalism, empathy, and persistence.

Recently, I had the privilege of supporting my colleague Mark Robinson in acting for a lady who was involved in what initially appeared to be a minor road traffic collision. Shortly afterward, she began to experience tingling and numbness along the left side of her body. Subsequent investigations revealed that she had sustained a spinal cord injury, requiring surgical intervention.

What followed was deeply distressing. In the months after her surgery, she began to experience seizure-like episodes. These occurred without warning. She would black out, slur her words, and lose control entirely. These episodes left her confused and emotional as she struggled to come to terms with what was happening to her. She became housebound, lost her job, and was forced to rely heavily on her family for support.

Eventually, she was diagnosed with Functional Neurological Disorder (FND), a condition that disrupts the brain’s ability to send and receive signals correctly. FND can present in many ways, including:

• difficulties with movement or coordination;
• weakness or reduced strength in the limbs;
• generalised, unexplained pain;
• non-epileptic seizure-like episodes, and
• overwhelming fatigue.

Her story highlights the devastating ripple effect a single act of negligence can have. It also illustrates why campaigns such as Injury Awareness Week are not simply symbolic. They’re essential for raising public understanding and pushing for better care, rehabilitation, and justice for injured individuals.

Our National Serious Injury Team stands by people who have suffered life-changing harm. We help navigate the legal process while also securing access to rehabilitation, mental health services, and community support because we know a claim is only one part of the journey to recovery.