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

Shaun Best, survivor of a brain injury over 30 years ago, discusses the stigma of stereotypes and labels for persons with brain injuries and other cognitive or physical challenges.

By emphasizing positive descriptive words, he focuses on including people with disabilities in our communities rather than isolating and excluding them.

Using positive thinking rather than negative thinking, he created the Challenged Conquisatador to describe how he lives his life fully after his brain injury.

A traumatic brain injury changed the life of Terry Morgan. He went from feeling like a million dollars as pastor of a large church and leading a full active life and career to feeling worthless. The fall that resulted in his brain injury changed his entire life – and that of his family. But as a brain injury survivor, it also resulted in his reevaluating what’s important in life. He now see there is a positive side to brain injury once you survive the physical and emotional trauma and rebuild your life.

Angie Machovec survived a traumatic brain injury on her last day of high school when she was 17. Struck by a car when she crossed the street to go home, it was like any other day. But her world completely changed at that moment. She was in a coma for about a month, spent 3 weeks in rehabilitation, was discharged home and then had out patient rehabilitation.

She wrote these poems in summer 2002 while in a creative writing course. Writing poetry after her brain injury helped her understand her emotions and accept what had happened in her life.

Gwendolyn Gibbons believes she is lucky to be a survivor of traumatic brain injury (TBI). She feels lucky to be alive. Despite being visually impaired in her right eye and having a few memory problems, she still enjoys life and many of the things she did when she was young, like going to parades. Meeting other survivors at a clubhouse for social activities is an important part of her life. She is still marching at the head of the parade of life.

The loss of speech can feel devastating to the survivor of a brain injury. Katherine Kimes writes about the frustration, persistence and sheer effort required as she learned how to speak and communicate again by forming syllables and words one by one after the car crash that resulted in her brain injury.

She is now an eloquent writer and uses language to express the emotional turmoil that accompanied her communication impairment.

I had a Brain Injury due to Acute Spinal Meningitis. I was in a coma for over 56 hours and found out about Brain Injury three years ago! I was upset and decided to write poems to express myself and my inner emotions. Writing poetry has helped to relieve the anger from inside me.
I used the “White Dove” symbol because I have a lot of high spirits and want to share my feelings with people. I want to let them know not to give up, but get involved with our communities so people are aware there are ways to cope with Brain Injury.
Many of us want to be our old selves again but Brain Injury will not let us! We have encouragement and many things we can share with others with Brain Injury. We should care for and support each other.

Surviving a traumatic brain injury gave Jason Ferguson a new outlook on life. Writing poetry about his survival helps him rebuild his life and face new challenges. Despite the losses and changes in his life after his brain injury, he is thankful that he did not die. Giving thanks to have survived his injury has given new meaning to his life as he finds new beginnings and new adjustments each day.

Using poetry to express the emotional trauma that followed her traumatic brain injury, Vicki Sue Parker expresses the pain and loss in her life. Having survived her brain trauma, she writes about the change in her self-image and the loss of her identity as she reshaped her understanding of her new self and her altered abilities.

Poetry expresses the emotions, pain, loss and anguish that followed her traumatic brain injury as Vicki Sue Parker reveals the changes and contradictions in her life. Having survived her brain trauma, she finds that many do not recognize the less visible cognitive disabilities that come with changes in thinking, learning, and problem solving. Her brain injury is not like a broken bone. Friends can’t see it so they have difficulty understanding that her brain has been injured.