Adult with Childhood Brain Injury

My Story

By JR Pietrowski

I am a 44 year-old male who was paralyzed in 1974 at the age of ten. I was diagnosed with a brain abscess after months of my doctor not being able to find what was causing me to be so ill all summer. A neurosurgeon was called in while I was in coma and he discovered a mass in the left side of my brain. Surgery was performed and I went into cardiac arrest. I was resuscitated before major brain trauma occurred. I came out of the coma a few weeks before my 11th birthday which I had in the hospital. The abscess left me paralyzed on my right side of my body. I went through years of physical, speech, and occupational therapy.

In 1983 I was diagnosed at the MCV hospital with more abscesses which were removed the night I entered the hospital. After weeks of tests the doctors there diagnosed me with HHT, a rare genetic disease where a person’s blood does not get filtered properly. Symptoms of HHT include nose bleeds (I have), shortness of breath (I have) brain abscesses (I had), stroke, and death.

The disability caused many of my friends to withdraw from me. They did not understand a handicapped boy. I compensate by working at The Denbigh House where we all have some sort of head trauma. I keep track of appointments myself on a calendar as I live alone since 1988. I feel as though I have made some good major changes in my life since becoming paralyzed. I live on my own, drive, and volunteer here, which I enjoy. Still have a long way to go what with diabetes also, but I am proceeding.

Denbigh House, located in Virginia, is a clubhouse for people with brain injuries. You may contact them via email at denbighhouse@gmail.com