About This Project

You see, at age 12, my daughter Sarah also had a brain injury (ABI) as a result of hemorrhagic stroke. It was difficult to watch her starting her teen years with a broken brain, and the challenge of navigating through her new and unknown world. But, living through years of hidden TBI struggles myself, allowed me to better help my child through her ABI challenges. Together, through our experience and knowledge, 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 in the world of brain injury, and my daughter took it one step further, and completed her Masters and PhD in Neuropsychology. She is now a subject matter expert. Sarah and I continue to collaborate, and her experiences and knowledge will be felt throughout this web space.

Also, as I age, I have discovered that a shrinking brain and other degenerative processes can cause some brain injury symptoms to return, and other new symptoms to develop, including tremor-related illnesses. Furthermore, brain injuries are often misdiagnosed or go undetected because the symptoms are not immediately apparent, or because the symptoms mimic those of another medical condition, including mental illness, emotional trauma, PTSD, and Covid-19 long-hauler (long-Covid). Regardless, those of us who are all too familiar with brain injury symptoms, advocate for the inclusion of anyone who experiences the same, regardless of how the symptoms came to be. If you have the symptoms, you will need the help. Brain injury symptoms may include, but are not limited to, headaches, dizziness, nausea, fatigue, impulsive behavior, reduced inhibitions, brain fog, blurred vision, anxiety, memory loss, balance issues, hearing issues, dexterity, photophobia, changes to depth perception, decreased reaction time, clouded judgment, sensitivity to sound & light, low attention span, losing old knowledge, difficulty retaining new knowledge, decreased focus, sensory overload, and brain processing jam.

Brain injury is an under supported cause, and brain injury survivors often don’t get the help they need. This is a much harder battle because the brain is injured, so you generally relay on others for help, as you don’t even know what you really need. I know this through much experience as a brain injury survivor, and as someone who provided support. But together, we can do better. There is no established or direct path from injury to symptoms to recovery, so those of us who lived through those significant experiences (injury, support, or both) are duty bound to help others in need, and help those searching for answers. Through this comprehensive, self-help webspace for all, we provide mentoring and support, advocacy and navigation, to help guide you through those challenging and often debilitating symptoms. We also advocate and shed light on essential tools that are needed throughout the healing and recovery journey, like support groups, proper nutrition and hydration, organized adaptive activities, music and art therapy, using the natural outdoors for self-care, etc. Ultimately, during the brain healing and recovery process, our experience will help you establish achievable goals, maintain a safe and healthy lifestyle, and set realistic expectations on what the road to recovery will look like.

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Also, those challenging brain injury symptoms are not necessarily obvious or visible to others, so the struggle is often hidden and the fight to overcome is usually concealed. That’s why brain injury survivors need help fast in order to make recovery job one, but they cannot do it alone.

First and foremost, brain injury survivors need help dealing with those significant symptoms, which are often overwhelming and debilitating. Brain injury survivors also need to be in a safe environment with positive reinforcement. They need help maintaining hydration and proper nutrition while their brain is in repair. They need help to stay socially engaged while the brain establishes new pathways. They need to stay involved, through adaptive indoor and outdoor activities and brain relearning tools. They need mentoring on how to reconcile old knowledge with new. They need help with occupational therapy and re-integrating into society. They need our understanding and encouragement when they are not feeling or acting themselves, or when they are forced to turn nocturnal to avoid sun light, vision and sensory issues. They need our help through creative therapy, like art and music, in order to engage new brain functions. Most important, they need our unconditional love, understanding, and support as their lives and livelihood can be out of their control.

Reaching the diverse population of brain injury survivors is another added challenge. How to penetrate through socioeconomics, across barriers, and reach the underserved. Making a difference in the lives of those who are challenged in their brain is a daunting task that require working together, with all hands on deck, and technology can help. I have worked in the technology field most of my career, and I can say with confidence that free self-help webspace, social media, virtual reality, and artificial intelligence, can bridge those gaps. Yes, today’s technology can be an effective tool to help reach anyone who need help. But that will require the utilization of networking and resources to make it possible, please join in and help.

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This experience also includes providing support for my daughter Sarah’s brain injury, helping her through the devastating symptoms, and persevering through personal and professional life challenges. 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 23 years of mind boggling challenges during formative years at school and college, until completing her Masters and PhD in Neuropsychology.

Sarah told me recently that my help and support have been instrumental during her years of struggle and recovery. She thinks that my own brain injury experience gave me the insight and understanding to help her. So, basically, this webspace is all about experience-based mentoring and support for brain injury survivors and their caregivers, with a cognitive functioning focus.

There is much knowledge and experience to share, especially about the many devastating brain injury symptoms. There is much to share about seizures, the functional shifts in the brain, and the impact of hormonal, chemical, and biological changes. There is also much to share about those devastating seizures. Sarah had many episodes of grand mal seizures and a variety of a-typical seizures. All this was the result of her hemorrhagic stroke at age 12 and 5 Gamma-Knife surgeries over the following 20 years. Those Gamma-Knife radiation sessions, created additional injuries to her brain, but were necessary to treat her birth defect of Arteriovenous Malformation (AVM), in order to prevent additional hemorrhagic strokes. She recently had a Vagus Nerve Stimulation (VNS) implant in order to manage those various types of seizures, and while it helped, her seizures days are not completely over.

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This will often result in much less attention from medical professionals, and sometimes caregivers as well, given that nothing is obvious, bruised, or broken. Although CFBI are relatively healthy for the most part, their symptoms will have all sorts of impact on their daily living. As it will become clear throughout this webspace, the right dose of support and relief can help CFBI emerge from their darkness, and forge their co-existence as productive citizens in our society. 

That is the CFBI burden, and together we can make a difference.

This CFBI category includes (TBI) Traumatic Brain Injury (combat soldiers, sports athletes, accidents, etc.) and (ABI) Acquired Brain Injury (strokes, hemorrhagic strokes, hereditary or other diseases that affect the brain, etc.). We also include misdiagnosed PTSD patients and Covid-19 long-haulers (long-covid), who are experiencing brain injury-like symptoms, for obvious reasons.

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