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.

A traumatic brain injury alters the relationship between husband and wife.
Filled with the excitement and joy of her new marriage, becoming injured and disabled was the last thing Vicki Sue Parker expected. Her poetry expresses the anguish of lost dreams and promises with the void of coma and the despair of recovery. Having survived, she has a second chance to build a new but different life.

The loss of her sense of self and identity after her traumatic brain injury leaves Vicki Sue Parker feeling alone and confused. This poem by a brain injury survivor expresses the emptiness, loss and anguish of brain injury that only survivors can understand. It shows how enormous the losses are for survivors of brain injury as they struggle to rebuild their sense of self.

This poem about being in coma after a traumatic brain injury describes the mysteries of the mind and the brain. While family members stay by the bedside with hope and fear, the mind and spirit fight to be heard.

This poem by Ashley Byblow eloquently expresses what we do not know or understand about coma and what goes on in the survivor’s mind and brain during loss of consciousness.

Brain injury or stroke can result in changes in communication for the survivor. Aphasia can affect the survivor’s ability to communicate. Loss of speech, difficulty speaking and understanding others, and changes in the ability to read and write can feel overwhelming.

Vaughn Stone is a former psychologist, marathoner, bicyclist, gardener, and a master of language. After a life-threatening car and bicycle accident, he faced new challenges with his physical abilities and communication. About six months after his accident, he began writing a poem every day. Although his writing has too often been interrupted by set backs, therapy and other distractions, he continues to write. His new life work has become regaining a piece of what he had. Although it has been difficult for him to speak verbally, his written poetry speaks with eloquence. His writing shows the complexity of the brain and the challenges and frustration of aphasia.

Coma is an unknown world of silence, sensations and sounds. Katherine Kimes survived a severe brain injury. She writes about her time in the hospital and describes the mysterious tunnel of time and spiritual journey when she was in a coma. She remembers little of the weeks she was in a coma while her life changed forever.