Times where I was in a situation, such as a car accident or a bike accident, where I would bang my head. Luckily, I can still remember each of these events and all of my memories are still intact. Until recently, I didn’t realize how truly lucky I was that I still had the ability to remember all of these events and the events prior to my injuries. Unfortunately, there are many individuals who suffer from Traumatic Brain Injuries (T.B.I.) due to being similar situations. According to reports from domestic emergency rooms, there are about 1.7 million T.B.I. diagnoses that occur every year. While about 52,000 of these individuals die, the rest can suffer from a variety effects including physical, cognitive, social, emotional, and behavioral disabilities that hinder them from living their everyday lives.
In the New York Time’s article, “ Starting Again After a Brain Injury ,” Jane Rosett talks about her own experience of recovering from a Traumatic Brain Injury. Rosett suffered from a T.B.I. because at the age of 45, she was involved in car accident where she hit her head on the car’s windshield. This injury left her with a head fracture and damage to the right temporal lobe. It also took away most of her memories prior to the injury, also known as retrograde amnesia.
It left her with the inability to recognize her family, friends, and certain objects. Even though T.B.I. took away most of her memories, some of them would slowly come back to her, as she describes, “Shards of memories pierce my consciousness before fragmenting and melting into fresh half-syllables.” Our brains’ ability to restructure itself, or neuroplasticity, is what allowed her to continue to function through life. This with some self therapy and therapy from the Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital allowed her to recover. Even though Jane Rosett was about to receive this treatment, very few people of those 1.7 million have the same opportunity. It is this that needs to change. I think Rosett says it best when she says, “It is a big deal to be somewhere where nobody will laugh at you for rediscovering gum at age 50.” We need to increase awareness of proper T.B.I. rehabilitation. When I broke my arm, I was given the red carpet treatment. I had a full access to a physician, surgeon, nurse, and most importantly a physical therapist. This is just not the cause for most brain injury patients, while they are helped through the injury, there is little to no effort put into rehabilitation. This effort starts with us; it starts with voicing our concerns with the current process.
You can begin to help by supporting the Brain Injury Association of America, click for more information. It is through this support that we will be able achieve proper rehabilitation of the 1.7 million.
