In this video, Gail Strom, mother of Hannah, shares her personal experience navigating the emotional ups and downs of a loved one’s recovery from a disorder of consciousness.
Gail describes the recovery process as a roller coaster, marked by progress, setbacks, and uncertainty. She reflects on how staying grounded, finding moments of positivity on difficult days, and celebrating even small milestones helped her cope through the hardest moments.
This video offers reassurance and insight for families facing the unpredictability of severe brain injury—and highlights the importance of resilience, connection, and hope throughout recovery.
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How do families handle the ups and downs of disorders of consciousness?
With Gail Strom and Beth Hansen, PT, DPT
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Gail Strom Hannah’s Mother
So this type of injury? Yes, it's unpredictable. It was described as a roller coaster. There's going to be ups and downs, and then it's going to be up again and oh, this is great, but then it's going to be kind of rock bottom again. And it was almost like the roller coaster of up and down. You may never get to here again, but then you go up and you're going to come here and then up. And so it was kind of the climbing rollercoaster. It was described as a lot of ups and downs. So that was hard. You kind of had to have, you had to be prepared for the bad days. How I tried to handle that was I tried to do something positive on the bad days. So if it was a bad day, I happened to have a neighbor who was living next door, and she and I would regroup at night.
And if it was a bad day, we would do something positive, whether we would walk the loop of the floor, five times around was a mile. And then we'd turn around and go and we would pass the rooms. And every time we passed, we looked in to make sure, made sure Hannah was okay, but we just tried to keep positive all the time, but especially on the bad days. And even one day her family member had a milestone. So we ordered out, I think a dessert that got delivered to the desk and we celebrated. So it was like we tried to do the best we could inside here.
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Beth Hansen, PT, DPT Therapy Manager,
Spaulding Brain Injury Program Spaulding-Harvard TBI Model System
One of the hardest things for families with a loved one and with the disorders of consciousness is just that we don't have any kind of absolute answer for them about prognosis. It's true that their loved one will be forever changed, but we can't give them a full picture of what that is. So even though patients, many patients make really remarkable recoveries, any brain injury has a lasting impact on a patient's capabilities, maybe their frustration tolerance, their energy towards certain things. And so some level of support will always be required. And for a lot of these patients, it's a lot of support, but it's really hard for us to give a clear answer of what that's going to look like.
Produced by the Model Systems Knowledge Translation Center (MSKTC), this story is part of the Recovering from Disorders of Consciousness Hot Topic Module. The content of this video is based on research and/or professional consensus. This content has been reviewed and approved by experts from the Traumatic Brain Injury Model System (TBIMS) centers, funded by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research, as well as experts from the Polytrauma Rehabilitation Centers (PRCs), with funding from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The content of the video has also been reviewed by individuals with TBI and/or their family members.
Disclaimer: This information is not meant to replace the advice of a medical professional. You should consult your health care provider about specific medical concerns or treatment. The contents of this video were developed under a grant from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR grant number 90DPKT0009). NIDILRR is a Center within the Administration for Community Living (ACL), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The contents of this video do not necessarily represent the policy of NIDILRR, ACL, or HHS, and you should not assume endorsement by the federal government.
Copyright © 2026 Model Systems Knowledge Translation Center (MSKTC). May be reproduced and distributed freely with appropriate attribution. Prior permission must be obtained for inclusion in fee-based materials.
About the author: Model Systems Knowledge Translation Center (MSKTC)
The Model Systems Knowledge Translation Center (MSKTC) is a national center operated by the American Institutes for Research® (AIR®) The MSKTC collaborates with Model System researchers to translate health information into easy to understand language and formats for people living with spinal cord injury (SCI), traumatic brain injury (TBI), and burn injury and those who support them.
