Stories, research, and practical guidance for survivors and caregivers.
For years, I had a ten-second version of my story. I was running with my husband, the sun was in the driver's eyes, he hit me going twenty-five miles an hour, I was in a coma for seven days, and now I am here. It's all…
After my brain injury, I would walk into a room and forget why I came. A name would be there one second and gone the next. Someone would tell me something that mattered, and an hour later it was as if the conversation…
There is a kind of tired that sleep does not fix, and after my brain injury I came to know it well. It was not the honest tiredness of a long, good day. It was a deeper emptiness, like the tank was simply gone, often…
Before my accident, I was the kind of person who took on everything. I was training for a marathon when I got hit. I have never been someone who does things halfway. So when I came home from the hospital, my instinct…
For a long time after my accident, I looked fine. I told everyone I was good, I smiled, I kept moving. From the outside, people thought I was back to normal, and honestly, I worked hard to seem that way. What no one…
There was a day, early on, when I could not lift my own arms to hold my baby. My family set little Jacob on my bed, and my body simply would not let me reach him. All I could do was smile from a few inches away. And…
I want to start by being honest about what this is, and what it is not. This is not a sermon, and it is not me telling you what to believe. It is simply one survivor sharing something that turned out to be a quiet…
After I survived my accident, one feeling kept rising up through everything else. I was happy to be alive. Genuinely, simply glad to still be here. But I want to be honest, because gratitude after something like this is…
This one is not really for the survivors. It is for the people standing beside them. The husband, the wife, the parent, the sibling, the friend who keeps showing up. The ones who carry us when we cannot carry ourselves…
For twenty-five years, a three-mile nature trail at Memorial Park in Houston has been my running space. Morning, midday, or late evening, it has not mattered. That trail has given me more clarity and peace than almost…
There is a question that comes after a brain injury, quietly at first, then louder. Who am I now? Before my accident, I knew exactly who I was. I was an athlete, a runner training for my second marathon. I was a young…
There is a question I came to dread a little. How have you been since I last saw you? It is a kind question, asked by people who want to help. The doctor, the therapist, a family member checking in. And I wanted so…
There was a gym I used to go to with a friend. Bright lights overhead, pop music turned all the way up. One day I was moving between the treadmill and the weights when the lights and the noise caught up with me all at…
Before my accident, I was the kind of person who kept moving. I was training for a marathon when I was hit. Rest was something you earned after the work was done, not something the work depended on. So it caught me off…
For years after my accident, whenever someone asked how I was, I gave the same answer. Good. I had a ten-second version of my story that I could recite without even thinking, and then I would move on. I was on…