“CBD allows me to function” – biker ‘died’ three times after freak road accident

After a serious motorbike accident, Gary Brennan almost lost his life, undergoing 54 operations to fix his broken body. Gary speaks to Cannabis Health about the “life-changing” accident and how CBD helps to manage the pain 11 years on.

On February 28^th 2010, Gary Brennan collided with a car while riding his motorbike.

He broke both shoulder blades, tore his liver, crushed his kidney, shattered his pelvis fractured his spine and suffered from bleeding on the brain and a collapsed lung.

These are just some of the life-threatening injuries that he sustained in the accident.

So severe were his injuries that he was declared dead at the scene of the incident. Paramedics were able to resuscitate him before he was helicoptered to Leeds General Infirmary where he underwent emergency surgery.

During the operation, his heart stopped twice and his family were told that he may have just a few hours to live. He was put into an induced coma and relied on a life support machine to breathe.

Miraculously, Gary survived.

His condition stabilised enough to come out of the coma, but since then he has undergone a total of 54 operations.

When Gary’s condition stabilised enough to come out of the coma he was in excruciating pain. Having battled injuries that doctors deemed barely survivable, the 63-year-old was administered a plethora of drugs to keep the pain under control and has since undergone a total of 54 operations.

“The accident was life-changing to say the least,” Gary told Cannabis Health.

Gary Brennan underwent more than 50 operations

“I got through the operations and everything else, and then I got to the stage where I was lying in bed, zoomed out my head every day of my life with the drugs that I was taking.”

The cocktail of medications including morphine and ketamine kept the pain at bay but according to the father-of-four, it was “destroying” his brain.

Bed-bound, in pain and suffering from a relentless medication plan, Gary slipped into a period of depression and at one point considered suicide.

“I don’t say this lightly,” he said. “It brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it; that I actually even considered it having been a fit, active father-of-four and grandfather-of-six.

“But that was what the drugs were doing to me.”

Gary recalls waking up in the morning “groggy as hell” and in agonising pain until he took his medication.

“All it would do was numb my mind so that I didn’t feel the pain,” he added.

Knowing he had to find an alternative, he looked into CBD.

Although he was sceptical at first and questioned whether the benefits were merely a placebo effect, Gary found that CBD was helping reduce the pain while still allowing him to keep a “clear” head.

“Now I’ve got clarity, I’ve got a clear head, I can get out of bed in the morning. I still get the twinges but it’s not as severe pain,” he continued.

“The pain is always going to be there, but it’s handled in a different way. It doesn’t numb your brain, but the actual place that’s aching. It gives me relief and allows me to function.

“It changed my outlook on pharmaceutical drugs.”

Gary has now come off all prescription drugs apart from one, which he takes “now and then” to lower his blood pressure. Instead, he takes four capsules of CBD each day, equating to 720 milligrams.

Eleven years on from the crash, he has founded his own CBD brand, Brain Body Balance, and is working with US company, Ananda Scientific, to bring its patented Liquid Structure CBD formulation to the UK.

Ananda claims that the nano-sized technology makes its CBD formulation up to 20 times more bioavailable in the first 30 minutes than standard CBD. This is down to its “non-destructive” shell which contains the CBD and is able to pass through the gut and liver without being broken down. The shell only disintegrates when it reaches the small intestine, allowing for a greater amount of CBD to enter the bloodstream.

Ananda’s pharmaceutical-grade CBD is currently undergoing clinical trials to test its efficacy for treating pain, diabetes and mental health conditions including PTSD and anxiety.

Meanwhile, the nutraceutical arm of the company has launched over-the-counter products in the UK and the US through brands like Brain Body Balance.

Gary with one of his six grandchildren.

For Gary, producing a product with high bioavailability was a priority.

“I knew the product itself worked, but actually getting it into the bloodstream where it does its job is the hardest thing to do,” Gary said.

“You have to use stronger and stronger doses in order to get it into your bloodstream.”

Alongside his CBD venture, Gary set up the charity, Day One Major Trauma Support to limit the impact of trauma on patients and families in hospitals across Leeds and the wider Yorkshire area.

“When I was lying in hospital, the doctors would come around once a day and say, ‘how are you feeling, Gary?’, ‘can you feel your toes?’. Then they would say, ‘see you tomorrow’ and off they go,” he said.

“The nurse comes around, gives you your pills, then your family come in, pat you on the head and say it’ll be okay. Basically, that’s all you get.”

Aware of the lack of support, Gary set out to create a service that helped those like him who had suffered from major trauma. The charity provides financial assistance, legal advice and practical and emotional support.

Off the back of its success at Leeds General Infirmary, the charity will now be rolling out its services in all 27 major trauma centres in the UK.

Gary added: “Any help is there first-hand, no matter what, so nobody’s left in the lurch.”