My 46-year experience with my Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), and my 24 years supporting my daughter through her Acquired Brain Injury (ABI), has created my mission.
What’s this website about?
So, after all the testing, diagnostics, medical treatment, etc., you have been told that you have a brain injury – now what? I have been there, as a brain injury survivor, and as a caregiver to my daughter who also has a brain injury. So, I have created this experienced-based webspace providing support, mentoring, and advocacy through the healing and recovery journey.
What’s the mission of this website?
Mission – Empowering brain injury survivors and caregivers through this self-help webspace, to help you understand brain injury, manage symptoms, set achievable goals, maintain a safe and healthy lifestyle, and set realistic expectations for the road to recovery. Advocate for the inclusion of others who experience brain injury-like symptoms, including long-Covid and misdiagnosed PTSD patients.
Why was this website created?
It was difficult to watch my daughter Sarah starting her teen years with a broken brain, and the challenge of navigating through this new and unknown world. But living through years of TBI struggles myself allowed me to better help my child through her ABI challenges. Together, through our years of trials, experience, and education, we have developed necessary skills to better identify and confront those brain injury challenges. In the end, we have both fared relatively well. In the process, I have gained valuable knowledge and experience, and Sarah became a subject matter expert. Interestingly, after Sarah’s brain injury, experts have advised her to reconsider her dream goal of higher education, but she did not give up and we stayed the course, plowing through 24 years of mind-boggling challenges during formative years at school and college, until completing her Master’s and PhD in psychology. So, this is a comprehensive self-help webspace with tools that reflect our cumulative knowledge, experience, and education. And it was designed specifically to help brain injury survivors and their caregivers understand, navigate, and manage this new and unknown world, during the healing and recovery journey.
How to navigate this website?
First, we start with who we are, what we are trying to do, our experience-based approach, the challenges of our mission, etc. (see About this Project). Then we provide some basic brain injury literacy and key facts to help you understand this new world (see Essential Keynotes). We also offer some help and ideas on how to transition into this new world and how to establish and manage your new goals (see Establishing new Goals). Most important, we provide mentoring and support on how to deal with those challenging and often debilitating symptoms (see Dealing with Symptoms). We share all the essential tools needed during your healing and recovery journey (see All the Tools You Need). We also think it is necessary share some of our stories, in a way that shows the significant impact of brain injury on daily living, and how improvement and recovery are possible with desire and persistent effort (see our blog posts Episodes of Our Journey). We have a special section to help caregivers, covering their unique and important role, the challenges and emotional toll, etc (see The Caregiver Zone). Then we share some of the stories that have inspired us (see Stories of Inspiration). Finally, we would love to hear from you, whether you have questions, feedback, or to share your story for others to benefit (see Contact).
Note: it is important to understand that progress is all about dealing with brain injury symptoms, establishing achievable goals, maintaining a safe and healthy lifestyle, and setting realistic expectations on what the road to recovery looks like.