HN Summary
• After a life-threatening traumatic brain injury, Benjamin Finlan spent four years at St. Michael’s Hospital undergoing complex surgeries and intensive rehabilitation.
• His recovery was driven by highly personalized, team-based care — involving multiple specialties and strong support from his caregiver — focused on rebuilding both function and quality of life.
• Through resilience, innovative treatment and coordinated care, Ben progressed from critical condition to celebrating milestones and preparing to return home.
Benjamin Finlan is used to being stopped in the halls of St. Michael’s Hospital. On his way through the Peter Gilgan Patient Care Tower or past the Trauma & Neurosurgery Inpatient Unit, staff pause to say hello — often to hug him. It’s not just his easy warmth or unmistakable presence that makes him memorable. It’s that, for four years, this hospital was his home.
In December 2018, at just 28 years old, Ben’s life changed in an instant. While travelling in London, England with friends, he was the victim of an unprovoked attack that left him with multiple skull fractures and a severe traumatic brain injury. The prognosis was grim.
Back in Toronto, his girlfriend, Katherine Smith, received the call no one expects. Within hours, she was on a flight to London, preparing for what doctors warned could be a final goodbye.
“We were going there under the impression that we were going to say goodbye,” she recalls. “They didn’t think he was going to survive the night.”
But Ben survived.
After days in a coma, he began to stabilize. Part of his skull had been removed to allow his brain to swell safely, and he had developed meningitis, but he was strong enough to be transported back to Canada. When he arrived at St. Michael’s Hospital — a Level 1 trauma centre specializing in complex neurological injuries — his journey was just beginning.
The first priority was survival and stabilization. But as Ben’s condition improved, it became clear that recovery would not be simple — or quick. Traumatic brain injuries are among the most complex conditions to treat, with no predictable path forward. Progress can be uneven, setbacks sudden and severe.
Ben’s experience reflected that reality. After initial improvements and a transfer to rehabilitation, his condition deteriorated rapidly. Without the protection of his skull, pressure on his brain caused a sharp decline, and he was rushed back to St. Michael’s. It was a turning point — and a realization that his recovery would require long-term, highly coordinated care.
For Katherine, it meant putting her own life on hold. She left her job to become Ben’s full-time caregiver, advocate and constant presence. She documented his progress in handwritten notes, tracking everything from eye movement to small physical gains. Over time, she became so attuned to his condition that she could sense how he was doing before anyone else.
“I could tell how he was feeling by how much he could open his eyes,” she said.
At St. Michael’s, Ben’s care was anything but routine. His case required an interdisciplinary team that spanned nearly every corner of the hospital — surgeons, nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists and more. Together, they formed a coordinated system of wraparound care designed to support every aspect of his recovery.
Equally important was the philosophy guiding that care: personalization.
“They approach every case so differently,” Ben says. “It’s not one size fits all.”
Rather than following a standardized plan, his care team built a recovery strategy around who Ben was — not just his injury. Before the attack, he had been active and athletic, so his physiotherapy incorporated movement and exercises that reflected those interests. Even in the early stages, when he couldn’t sit up or stand, therapists found ways to keep him engaged physically and mentally.
Progress came slowly, often measured in seconds. Sitting upright for five to ten seconds became a milestone. Standing, eventually, was another. The first attempt resulted in a broken toe — a setback that might have discouraged others, but not Ben.
“He never lost his fight,” said one of his physiotherapists.
Goal-setting became a central part of his recovery. His occupational therapists worked with him to identify what mattered most: returning to activities he loved and rebuilding a sense of purpose. Ben set his sights on playing 18 holes of golf again — and on becoming a motivational speaker.
To support those goals, his care team got creative. They introduced tools to help him rebuild strength and coordination, and as his cognitive abilities improved, encouraged him to take online courses. Certificates from completed programs soon filled the walls of his hospital room — tangible reminders of progress and possibility.
Meanwhile, the medical side of his recovery remained complex. Over the years, Ben underwent multiple surgeries to reconstruct his skull and address complications. One of the most critical procedures involved implanting a titanium mesh plate to replace the portion of his skull that had been removed.
Later, he faced another major hurdle: reconstructing his scalp. Surgeons needed to transplant tissue from his abdomen to his head, carefully connecting blood vessels in an area where few viable options remained. The procedure required extraordinary coordination across specialties — and carried significant risk.
But it succeeded.
For Ben and Katherine, it was one more step forward in a journey defined by persistence, resilience and trust — in each other and in the team around them.
Throughout his time at St. Michael’s, Ben says one of the most striking aspects of his experience was the sense of connection.
“It’s truly unbelievable… how much like family you feel when you’re staying there,” he says.
That sense of partnership — between patient, caregivers and clinicians — is at the heart of personalized care. It recognizes that recovery is not just physical, but emotional and psychological, shaped by relationships, goals and identity.
After four years, Ben reached a moment that once seemed impossible. On his 32nd birthday, he celebrated outside the hospital with friends and family — a simple milestone, but one that carried enormous meaning. It marked not just survival, but progress.
And it signalled that, at last, he was close to going home.
Ben’s journey is a testament to what’s possible when advanced medical care is combined with compassion, collaboration and a commitment to treating the whole person. His recovery was not defined by a single breakthrough, but by thousands of small steps — each supported by a system designed to meet him where he was.
Today, as he walks the halls of St. Michael’s — no longer as a patient, but as a familiar and welcome presence — those steps are visible in every greeting, every hug, and every reminder of just how far he has come.
Olivia Lavery works in communications at Unity Health. This story is a condensed version of two full articles about Ben’s journey.