This personal story traces Rebekah Vandergriff’s journey from runway fashion model to survivor of a car crash and a traumatic brain injury. Despite grim predictions for her recovery, she progressed from learning to walk and talk again to achieving a master’s degree in social work and raising a family.
Revealing her family’s reactions and involvement from her early days in rehabilitation to her struggles at home and in the community for independence and self-reliance, she rebuilds her life with grit and determination. Her candor exposes the dynamics among siblings and parents when a family member is seriously injured.

Successfully Surviving a Brain Injury is a just-in-time, easy-to-read guidebook for families suddenly thrust into the painful, confusing world of brain injury. It teaches readers the basics of brain injury, guides them step-by-step through the recovery process, inspires them with stories of others who live successfully with the permanent sequelae of their injury, and provides the practical information readers need to handle the insurance, financial, legal, family, and personal issues that accompany a brain injury. Finally, it is a love story and a celebration of how one couple transcended profound changes in their relationship and created a fulfilling new life.

“Spend a day with me…walk a mile in my shoes.” Amid the changing landscape of professionals, programs and agencies, families are the constant in the life of a person with a brain injury. Yet too few people realize what it is like, day to day, unless they are a family member.

Brain injury Survivor Forum information and how to submit an article.

BrainLine advisor Jean Langlois Orman, ScD, MPH (Scientific Program Manager for Brain Injury Rehabilitation Research and Development Service at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs) wrote “How Is the Prevalence of Long- Term Disability Counted,” a short article that explains the processes that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention use to collect this type of information.

Grieving is a deep sadness that we try to avoid, it is an anguish in your heart that words really can’t touch or describe. But, I know from experience that grieving is necessary and must be embraced when there has been a loss in your life.

“Grieve what you lost…. So you can celebrate what you have.”
Her child’s traumatic brain injury led Denise Boggs to look at the emotional recovery that must accompany physical recovery. She believes that survivors go through a process of emotional development after a traumatic brain injury that is necessary to develop a new sense of self and to form healthy relationships. For children and adolescents, this emotional recovery is critical for them to become independent and self-reliant adults. She uses examples from her son’s brain injury and recovery to illustrate the process of emotional recovery.

An undiagnosed brain injury can have many consequences for survivors and family. Ethel Dimont reveals how a “minor” car accident resulted in an undiagnosed brain injury that had serious consequences for herself, her family and her caregivers. Assuming that things will get better with time is not a substitute for early diagnosis, expert assessment, and proper treatment. Social, cognitive and behavioral changes after a brain injury may be less visible than physical injuries but they can have life changing effects on the individual. Early diagnosis and treatment are critical.

A brain injury can affect short term memory. This is just one of many challenges that survivors struggle to cope with and adjust to as they rebuild their lives. The response, “I already told you” to a brain injury survivor’s question is not helpful. Donna Sue Hurst reveals her frustration at the impatience and insensitivity of others who simply do not recognize nor understand the cognitive impact of an acquired brain injury on short term memory, social interactions and communication.

Genie Zorbas had a severe brain injury as a child when she was struck by a car at age 6. Physical and cognitive disabilities made everything in her life more difficult while she was growing up. It was hard for her to keep up in school. Classmates and friends teased her because she looked different and had a hard time learning.

Despite these challenges, she has learned how to live life fully and is now a young adult. She has written a short fiction story based on her personal life that explores the question of many survivors ask, “If I had not had a brain injury…how would my life be different?”