Targeted Search

Use the filters to browse the information we have available or to narrow your search results for a specific audience (e.g. caregivers, military, children), a preferred type of content (e.g. videos, blogs, articles), or by topics of interest (e.g. family concerns, legal issues, symptoms).

You have selected:Personal Stories and Blogs

Firsts

First word, first step…you remember! Our plan included helping our sons through their “normal” firsts: high school, college, career, marriage, and children. Nowhere on our “normal” firsts list was finding ourselves sitting by our son’s hospital bed praying that he would live.

The Lingering Effects of Brain Injury

I can’t believe that I’m coming up on seven years out. As time continues to pass, my perspectives change, and my insight deepens. Sometimes I forget that those close to me still hurt. In the reflection of their inner pain, I see my injury for what it really is.

Climbing Back: A Family’s Journey Through Brain Injury

Elise Rosenhaupt discovers that her life before her son Martin’s devastating traumatic brain injury has prepared her for helping him through his rehabilitation and recovery.

Add new comment

Drawing the Line

When to stay? When to go? When to get professional help? These are some of the hardest questions we will face in our post-TBI lives. These are gut-wrenching decisions to make. I know that not only from my own experience, but from the network of caregivers I communicate with everyday.

9 Strategies to Optimize Post-Brain Injury Recovery

There are no guarantees, but there are smart choices and strategies that can optimize recovery after brain injury The following is a list I compiled as my answer to the many people in the beginning stages of brain injury who have asked about my success over the years. I hope it helps.

Find the Good and Praise it!

Like those of us who have been at this business of life after brain injury for a long time, I am aware of the stages that we go through. I know that I am experiencing "recurring grief." During these times it can be very hard to “find the good and praise it..."

A Survivor's Guide to Doctor's Visits

A Survivorâ€™s Guide to Doctorâ€™s Visits

Navigating the medical waters isn’t easy for anyone, but it can be particularly complicated and overwhelming for those of us who live with a brain injury. David Grant offers advice from his own experience.

Let There Be More

I’ve been fortunate to have a few personal encounters with people who are rocking the boat of brain injury awareness, and from them, I’ve gathered some valuable pearls of wisdom. Here they are...

Untangling the Vine of TBI

The greenbrier plant is not what it appears to be. It’s innocent looking while invasive. It comes raging back after you cut it down, and it can choke what’s underneath. If this sounds a little bit like traumatic brain injury, it is.

An Open Letter to America, From One of Your Veterans

My experiences don’t define me, and the Purple Hearts, TBI, and mental health diagnoses of my brothers and sisters don’t define them. I want to survive, and thrive, in spite of what I did and what happened to me...

From There to Here

So how exactly did I get from there to here? From complete ruination of the human will to thrive to living a life worthwhile? The answer is complicated, and our path was a winding one, but in retrospect, a few things have proven to be game-changers.

Life Goes On: Finding a Purpose After Brain Injury

David Figurski & Donna O’Donnell Figurski

Pick up the pieces, fit them back together, and see what new and lovely creation you have forged. It won’t be the same, but you may even like the “new” you better. I hope so!

Add new comment

Is Brain Injury to Blame?

As caregivers, we have to tread very delicately in interpreting our loved one’s behavior. When our default assumption is to blame brain injury, we run the risk of creating self-doubt in the survivor.

The Space of Your Grief

One of the distinct markers in the aftermath of my son’s brain injury is the presence of an emotional space I’ve never before experienced called ambiguous grief. For both survivors and family members, it can be challenging to address the path of this type of grief.

Life after Brain Injury — Getting Back to Business

There is a nice thing about learning to live after a brain injury. Once you realize you can live life again, most everything else seems like a cakewalk.

Riding For Resilience To Help Others After TBI

Recovery from a TBI involves personal commitment and a tremendous amount of time, along with contributions from family and friends. The most important part in most of these cases begins with caregivers – whom I consider angels.

My Two Life-Sustaining Questions

In the blink of an eye for our sons, and with an unwelcomed knock on our door for my husband and me, our family changed in a way that we could not even begin to comprehend.

Riding the TBI Pendulum

A couple of weeks with a respite from the worst of brain injury symptoms does not mean that I am abruptly recovering. It simply means that I’ve been able to string together a decent number of tolerable days.

Back at Work

I never wish to glamorize the process of returning to work, nor unfairly claim credit for it. TC was at the helm for most of this journey. With that said, there are a few pieces of wisdom I’ve gathered from the experience...

What Happens to Life When TBI Moves In

In the past ten years, I found myself laughing when I thought of Hugh’s pre-injury days—those glorious days when I thought I was so busy and hectic. Once the dreaded accident phone call came and I rushed to the emergency room, I discovered what busy was all about.

A Fragile Strength

Taylor is still fragile in his recovery, and yet stronger than many can imagine. In that analysis, I also see myself and many others who are navigating the tightrope of brain injury.

Add new comment

Life after Brain Injury — Learning to Roll with It

Life after Brain Injury â€“ Learning to Roll with It

I still have bad days. By looking at me, you’d never know that it was a “bad TBI day.” Today happens to be one of those days. Let me tell you a bit more about a bad TBI day and why a bad TBI day is different than it was a few years ago.

We Can Do Hard Things

Brain injury has been a type of boot camp for our family, a crash course in thickening our skins and tackling struggle head-on. And although none of us signed up for it willingly, I think we can all agree it’s been strenuous and valuable preparation for whatever challenges lie ahead.

NeuroStorm of the Century, Part 3 of 3: A New Way of Life

Navigating through neurostorms is just one of the many challenges we have had to face. Hopefully, by sharing our journey, we can help educate and empower other brain injury survivors and their caregivers.

NeuroStorm of the Century, Part 2 of 3: All Forms of Communication

As weeks and then months went by, the monitors were gradually removed and it became more important for family and friends to communicate with nursing staff regarding Josh's neurostorms.