Cathy Borden’s brain injury shattered her life, her body, her face and her spirit after a terrible car crash that left her fighting for her life in the hospital. Describing the emotional trauma of her multiple losses as she progressed from coma treatment and emergency medical care through extensive surgeries and rehabilitation therapies, her will to survive overcame enormous pain and complications. Her long journey of recovery required emotional and physical healing. The damage to her face was devastating as she struggled to rebuild her sense of self and identity. The brain injury affected her physical, sensory, and cognitive abilities.

The importance of family support and caregiving during her numerous surgeries and extended rehabilitation helped her rebuild her life – slowly and painfully. Her story shows how a traumatic brain injury affects everyone in the family.

Anne Forrest’s account of her diagnosis, treatment and recovery from a so called mild brain injury shows how her life was completely changed by the trauma to her brain in a minor car accident. The cognitive changes resulted not only in the loss of her career, but made it difficult for her to simply get through the day. Looking “normal” made it hard for others to recognize her disability and needs for compensatory strategies and accommodations.

She says, “Looking back, I can see that I was exhausting myself trying to return to work and my normal life. My brain thought I was the old me, and I did not know I could not succeed at my old life with my now-injured brain.”

A traumatic brain injury forces Kimberly Carnevale to reevaluate what’s important in life as a survivor. Coping with the trauma of her brain injury, grieving her losses, losing her home – losing everything leads her to a new beginning as she rebuilds her life. Her daughter and her service dog become the priorities in her life as she clears her mind, builds a new path, and creates a new vision for living a full life as a survivor.

The journey to recovery for brain injury victims can be a lonely one. Most survivors do not look like we have a disability so others assume we have recovered because we look good. Family members do not understand the causes for changes in behavior, inability to think and reason clearly, short-term memory losses and personality changes. Bursts of anger, resentment and withdrawal make it even more difficult for them to provide emotional support. Depression can became a new partner and companion after TBI.

Growing up with a disability after a brain injury was a lonely struggle for J.R. Peitrowski. Long stays in the hospital and rehabilitation therapy made is hard for him to have friends. The physical changes that left him with a disability further isolated him from peers. Now an adult, he has found peers and social support in a clubhouse for people with brain injuries.