A BRAIN trauma survivor is defying expectations by running his own summer festival to celebrate the charity which helped rebuild his life.

Mark Jarvis, 28, who lives in Enable Care home in Chingford, is putting on his first Festival Fete in Elphwood Hall, Cornmill, Waltham Abbey on Sunday (August 7).

He is hoping to show how able people with brain injuries can be by throwing a successful event in celebration of his care home and the brain charity, The Silverlining.

Mark was just a normal 21-year-old student in 2009, having just finished media studies at Barking and Dagenham College when he noticed he “didn’t feel right”.

He underwent blood tests in Whipps Cross Hospital in Leytonstone where doctors confirmed he had leukaemia, and not long after that he suffered a brain haemorrhage.

Mark said: “I didn’t know what was going to happen.”

In 2013, Mark came to the Enable Care, which specialises in rehabilitating people with brain injuries, and he has since found friends, freedom and even a career path.

Last year he was bitten by the events bug when a friend asked him to organise a small performance for residents in the care home.

Ever since, he has tried to get other singers to come and perform and helped the activities coordinator set up events.

After organising the care home’s fete last year he decided to take more responsibility and organise his own festival.

He added: “It’s quite a lot of work but I started early, taking a few months to build it all up.

“I want to show that people with brain injuries can still do things and get on with work.

“Maybe after here I could go on to work in events.”  

Mark is hoping his festival will shine a light on The Silverlining, a new charity helping anyone affected by brain injury to help rebuild their lives.

He also hopes to show people, who drive past Enable Care not knowing what it is, how much it “really helps the people” they care for.

At the free-to-attend festival, which runs from 12pm to 4pm, musicians Nate Austin and Maria Wilson will be singing live with a range of entertaining events planned.

From pony rides to hook-a-pineapple and the eagerly awaited crockery smash, there should be something for everybody.  

It’s taken Mark weeks asking people in the area to donate their unwanted or chipped crockery, but he finally has enough.

He added: “My room upstairs is full to brim with crockery.

“Just grab a ball and let your anger out on it.

“We got something for everyone so people of all ages should come on down.”