About the Author
Frank Toral
Frank Toral resides in Davie, Florida with his loving wife, Olivia, their beautiful daughter, Nina and the family boxer, Mia. The Toral family is very active in their hometown community and church.
Mr. Toral is the Managing Partner of the Law Offices of Toral & Associates, a statewide law firm concentrating in traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injury cases. He has successfully represented many families whose children have suffered a brain injury.
Mr. Toral’s commitment to survivors of brain injury extends beyond the law. He is the current President-Elect of Brain Injury Association of Florida, Inc. and a Board member of Mothers Against Brain Injury, Inc. as well as the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital Pediatric Neurotrauma Advisory Board. Mr. Toral is a guest lecturer on topics related to pediatrics and neurotrauma. He is a proud sponsor of many charitable causes, but is particularly proud of his sponsorship of Mothers Against Brain Injury, Inc. and the Brain Injury Association of Florida, Inc.
As a lawyer having represented many children, teens and adults, who survived a Traumatic Brain Injury, I have seen the despair in parents' eyes and hopelessness on their faces while they anxiously wonder if their loved one is going to get through this. One thing that has given many of my clients hope is faith.
Through faith in God, I have seen hope restored, lives transformed, recovery succeed and people of all ages go on to live meaningful lives following a Traumatic Brain Injury. It is my personal belief that faith in God plays more than just a passing role in helping you, the parent, through this difficult time and ultimately helping your child get better. As you sit in the hospital room and wait for your child to get better under the care of caring medical professionals and the caring and guidance of your blanket of support, getting God involved in the process may significantly influence the outcome.
About the Editor
Marilyn Lash
Marilyn Lash has personal experience with what families face when a child has a brain injury. She can still recall the events many years ago that followed her brother's brain injury as her parents searched for proper treatment, depleted their savings, advocated for educational programs, and looked for services.
Over the years, she saw her parents' experience repeated many times by other families during her career as a social worker in rehabilitation programs at Massachusetts General Hospital and Braintree Hospital in Boston. This led to her interest in developing community programs that would be more responsive to the needs of persons with brain injuries and their families. In her work at the Research and Training Center in Childhood Trauma at Tufts-New England Medical Center in Boston, she became an expert on the impact of traumatic brain injuries on families and the special educational needs of these children.
Looking back over her personal and professional experience, her greatest interest is developing information and materials that will help families understand the consequences of brain injury and prepare them for the changes in their lives.
The founding of Lash and Associates Publishing/Training, Inc. in 1996 has been the fulfillment of this dream of providing practical user friendly information on the effects of brain injury in children and adults. Ms. Lash is also Vice Chair of the Statewide Advisory Council on Traumatic Brain Injury in North Carolina and past Chair of the Board of Directors for the Brain Injury Association of North Carolina. She has served on many national advisory boards and editorial boards.
