Brain Injury Awareness Month

 March is Brain Injury Awareness Month. This is relevant to me as someone living with a brain injury. Every year an estimated 2.8 million Americans sustain a brain injury. That number is far higher than most people would expect. 5 million people are living with a permanent brain injury disability. That's one in 65 Americans!

 




Each brain injury manifests differently.  Some people have no physical challenges but cognitive ones. Some present cognitive challenges but no physical ones (sometimes referred to as invisible brain injuries). Both my cognitive and physical abilities were impacted by my brain injury. I could publish 100 posts about my TBI or brain injury more broadly, but this graphic really captures it for me.  There will always be a gulf between pre- brain injury me and post -brain injury me, but I work to close that gulf every single day. I Never Give Up!

#braininjuryawarenessmonth



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Anniversaries

     People note anniversaries of all kinds. Of course birthdays are anniversaries. So too are wedding anniversaries. And, in Judaism, we mark the anniversary of a loved one's death (called a yarzheit).        Today is the 9th anniversary of the accident that caused my traumatic brain injury. Some people might get upset or depressed on such anniversary. But I look at it through a different lens. I'm thankful. Thankful that I survived; thankful that I'm thriving; thankful to be present for my amazing children and surrounded by loved ones and friends. So, on this anniversary, and those that follow, I choose to be thankful for how far I've come since April 24, 2016, and looking ahead to meeting new goals for the next anniversary.
Read more

Staying Active in the Summer

 Summer in Seattle provides a great opportunity to enjoy the sunny weather while we have it.  It’s not easy for me to engage in every outdoor activity due to my disability, but this summer, I’m  challenging myself to engage in sports that are keeping me active and pushing me to develop new skills and muscles: rock climbing and kayaking Both activities are offered by a nonprofit organization called Outdoors for All.  https://outdoorsforall.org/ Though I never climbed or kayaked before my accident, I’m finding it very rewarding to challenge myself in these new physical ways despite my disability.  My participation requires not only physical exertion but also concentration to ensure I’m safe. When I’m rock climbing, I need to listen carefully to the instructor about how to safely ascend and the same goes for the descent down. I’ve found that after each activity, I’m (a) sore, (b) starving, (c) exhausted.  In both of these activities, the hardest part can ...
Read more

Music and TBI recovery

Image
I love music, especially live music. Just in the last twelve months, I’ve seen nine concerts.   I love singing along to songs that I love alongside a crowd that loves them too.   One of the cognitive techniques I use to remember new things is association.   For example, if I’m looking at a picture of a bowl of ice cream with a cherry, it is easier to remember that than if it were an image of ice cream with peanut butter because no one associates ice cream with peanut butter, but many do associate an ice cream sundae with a cherry on top.   I associate music with certain periods of my life: high school; college; music I studied and listened to in law school, and even music I played for my kids at bedtime.   So it makes sense that I enjoy seeing music live that I associate with these happy memories. What is the relevance of music to brain injury? I engaged in music therapy after my brain injury. As it turns out, music has a strong an...
Read more