My Child Has a Brain Injury

My Child Has a Brain Injury

Frank Toral
This booklet helps parents understand their child's brain injury, identify legal issues, create a blanket of support, and identify resources in Florida.
Item: MCHBI

Full Description

When a child has a brain injury, everyone in the family is affected in some way. Parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins - they will worry, have questions, and try to help you through this difficult time. The amount of information that you are hearing as you talk with doctors, nurses, specialists and therapists can feel overwhelming. You have entered the world of Brain Injury and it is filled with unfamiliar medical terms, treatment procedures and specialists.

The future may look very uncertain as you try to make sense of what it means when a child - your child - has a brain injury. You may be asking, "What do I do now?"

This booklet brings together a lot of information that will help you…

  • understand your child's condition

  • become familiar with stages of care and treatment

  • identify legal and financial resources for your child's care

  • find support and assistance from family and friends and

  • learn about services in the community.

During your child's first days or weeks of care in a Trauma Center, the last thing you may want to think about are insurance, finances and legal issues. This booklet explains why it is important to learn about them in the beginning of your child's care. This is just the beginning of the long road home.

Just hearing the words, "Your child has a brain injury" can be incredibly frightening. The implications may be confusing and overwhelming. As a parent, you want to protect your child. A brain injury can leave you feeling frustrated and powerless.

We hope that this booklet provides hope and empowers you with information and knowledge to help yourself and your child. You will find a lot of information in the following pages. Do not be overwhelmed as you will find "Help Sheets" in the back of this booklet to guide you.

This booklet is free for parents. Multiple copies are available for distribution and may have a small fee. You can order by contacting directly...

Attorney Frank Toral

Toral and Associates

Toral Professional Building

4780 Davie Road, Suite 101, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33314

Email: ftoral@torallaw.com

Toll Free: 1-866-747-7848

www.mychildhasabraininjury.com

Details
Item MCHBI
Pages 44 pages, 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 softcover

Authors

My Child Has a Brain Injury
What do I do now?
By Frank Toral

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.

Contents

 My Child Has a Brain Injury
What do I do now?
By Frank Toral
 
Table of Contents
 
Message of Hope and Encouragement
Foreword
About the Author & Editor
Introduction
Step 1 Understand What Has Happened to Your Child
Step 2 Create Your Blanket of Support
Step 3 Consider How Your Child's Treatment Will Be Funded
Step 4 Hire a Competent Legal Team
Step 5 Become an Advocate for Your Child
Step 6 Take Care of Yourself
Step 7 Seek Out Available Resources
Step 8 The Next Step
Step 9 Know the Bill of Rights for Parents
Step 10 Organize Your Thoughts
More Information on Brain Injury in Children

Excerpts

Your child's brain may have been injured as the result of a direct blow to the head. It is also possible for a brain injury to occur when a child is shaken or thrown. The head does not have to be hit directly for a brain injury to occur. In addition to the force of the blow, there are other factors to consider. For example, the speed that a car is traveling affects the force and impact of the blow to a child in a car crash.

A brain injury is often categorized as mild, moderate or severe. Loss of consciousness is an important factor that determines the severity of an injury. With a mild brain injury, a person has minimal or no loss of consciousness. There is a brief period of coma when a person has a moderate brain injury and an extended period of coma with a severe brain injury.

The effects of any brain injury can be serious. It is important to learn as much as you can about brain injury. Pamphlets, literature, and user friendly guides on brain injury are available through the Brain Injury Association of Florida, Inc. (BIAF). For more information, please call the BIAF family helpline at (800) 992-3442.

Your main concern is the recovery of your child. Understanding each level in the steps of recovery will help you help your child. The accident scene is only the first step in a long process.

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