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The Missing

Life inside the bubble of brain injury is a roller coaster. In our bubble, the daytime is generally good. Nighttime brings the opposite. Each evening, Taylor's post-injury thought process evolves into a profound sense of sadness, frustration, and defeat. It is hell to witness.

Depression or Sadness after Brain Injury – Understanding the Difference

At first glance, sadness and depression may seem like they are related, but when you dig a bit deeper, they are as different as apples and zebras.

Man, Woman, Caregiver

I Am You: How Caregiving Forces Us to Rethink Gender & Identity

It’s time for a broader, braver dialogue around gender and caregiving. It’s time to start talking about the transformation in identity that occurs when one spouse adopts the role of the other. It’s time to recognize that caregiving is a role that requires the revision of gender norms and the acceptance of power transfers.

Caregiving: Lessons and Confessions

After my son was diagnosed with a severe brain injury, despite the shock, I remember hearing Steven’s healthcare providers repeating the word caregiver, over and over, as if they were determined to make me, of all unqualified people, claim the title. I felt an urgency to scream that nowhere on my resume indicated that I was qualified to take care of a severely, brain injured son.

Sunshine & Security

In learning how to manage the small, we become better equipped to manage the large. A well-rounded caregiver doesn’t just come into being because a trauma occurred. Becoming is a process, a transformation.

Knock Knock – I’m Still Here!

As the years pass, things get easier, life gets easier. But brain injury is patient. Every now and then, life happens, and my brain injury challenges come back to the forefront. It’s like my injury says to me, “Knock, knock, I’m still here!”

How an App Gave My Daughter a Voice

Kara was growing up and thinking about the future. She would tell us, "I want my own life. I want my own house when I grow up." So I began going to conferences that focused on people with disabilities and became intrigued with technology. As Kara grew into young adulthood, technology became the key that would open the door to her independent life.

The Dangerous Trap of the Comparison Game

Sometimes, you might not be playing the comparison game as a team sport; it might be a solo venture. You might look at yourself now, and compare yourself to yourself twenty years ago.

Plain Vanilla

In August, we were presented with both high and low points. Our son, Taylor, was able to attempt to return back to work two days a week. Within fifteen days of returning to work, Taylor lost his brain injury service waiver. We had to hope nothing happened. And then…it did.

Brain Injury Academy

Early on, I thought that all brain injuries were traumatic. Over time, as I moved through Brain Injury Academy, I learned that there are traumatic brain injuries as well as acquired brain injuries. While the root causes are vastly different, the aftermath is the same. It’s akin to different lyrics set to the same music.

Seasons of Change

After the accident, we knew nothing would be the same, but we were not prepared for how strongly our emotions would swing during holidays and changes of seasons.

The Jeni Bounce

Momma was told, "You should make arrangements for a nursing home" due to my broken neck and the massive injuries to my brain. Fast-forward eleven years later, and with lots of hard work on my own, with determination, and by never quitting, I now live my life to the fullest that I am able to handle.

The Balloon

Being a survivor takes dedication. From my vantage point, you have to be many things. The first, and perhaps most obvious is that survivorship requires strength. Strength is required no matter what stage of recovery or healing the survivor is in.

The Uncertainty of Life After Brain Injury

My biggest fear was laid out in front of me: What if my most difficult brain injury challenges return with a vengeance? I don’t want to be “that guy” who did well for years, only to sink back into the abyss. It happens to others, and it could happen to me.

Joey's Story: The Hope of Fly Fishing

Joey Maxim's story of finding hope through fly fishing

For 16-year-old Joey Maxim, the way back to life after a near-fatal car accident started with a fly rod in his hand.

The Rehabilitation Shift: From Case Manager to Case Mom – A Mother’s Story

My case manager’s brain was pondering the logistics and the potential extent of Christine’s injuries. But my brain as a Mother was focused intently on keeping myself together so that I could be effective.

To Love What Is: A Marriage Transformed

I wish I had found Alix Kates Shulman’s memoir "To Love What Is: A Marriage Transformed" in the first month of my husband’s severe TBI, and yet I may not have absorbed it the way I did reading it fifteen years post-injury.

Your Happiness Matters

Our minds are both a beautiful and cruel playground, brain injured or not. Be careful about what you let on that playground, and when your thoughts seem to lean severely in a negative direction, recognize that in painful times, we sometimes think and believe things that are untrue

The New Pace of Life

Things take longer than they used to. I have slowed down. Sure, some of it can be attributed to getting older, but most of the new, slower pace that life has taken on is injury related. I’ve found that in that slower pace, life has become rewarding in very unexpected ways

The Superhero’s Other Half: Helping Your Service Member Understand Your Alter Ego

When a service member is deployed the spouse is everything: head chef, accountant, mechanic, troubleshooter, problem solver, mother, father, good cop, and bad cop. Their job is moving from a dual parent role to a single parent role and back again, constantly. The challenge is that this takes some getting used to for both the spouse and the service member.

Happy Holidays!

As the July Holiday weekend draws to a close and the spacious break until Labor Day has me thinking about the holidays. Specifically, why I don’t really care for them.

Never Stop Asking 'What If?'

We imagine the what-ifs as a worst case scenario, our worst nightmare happening to us, our life falling apart. But here’s another way of looking at it.

The Hike

My life as the caregiver and mother of a brain injury survivor is similar to being on a challenging hike. You gather the proper gear and feel adequately prepared. You begin the hike with an overcomer’s attitude, looking forward to moving through the miles...

Life After Brain Injury – An Unexpected Hangover

There is a certain finesse required to live a reasonably happy life after brain injury. Try to do too much, and watch out.

You are Not a Burden

Brain injury has changed you. It has broken you, rebuilt you, strengthened you, and humbled you. Sometimes it does all of this in the span of one day. I don’t know that I have the words to make this journey easier for you, but I can offer this...