Hello everyone, I am a survivor that would like to keep my name private. @tbi.fitness is my instagram name, please connect with me more there.
On 8/23/2008 I was a passenger in a serious one-vehicle rollover accident that resulted in a severe traumatic brain injury among other injuries. I spent 10 days in a coma in critical, but stable condition. I was discharged from the hospital 10/2008. I completed outpatient therapy in February 2009. I don’t remember a month before the accident until a month after. I forgot everything and had to relearn how to do it all again. Things like walking, talking, reading, writing, swallowing, and so much more.
@Tbi.fitness page is the first public platform I’ve talked about the second part of my story with the struggles faced and it’s cathartic, but nerve wracking at the same time. 14 years have passed and I’ve seen every emotion. All of the good of a bad situation with the terrible being there too. I’ve seen people show up while others leave at the same time. I’ve had different stages of getting to where I am. I have had the self-pity moments to a more acceptance stage and so many others in between. With help I was able to push past the bad to continue on doing life how I wanted to.
I have always said It’s all good to help recollect myself and move forward.
In my story brain Injury sucks and there isn’t a happy recovered ending because there isn’t an end to it. You don’t fully recover and it’s always there. It would be easy to feel sorry about what I deal with and what happened. That doesn’t make anything better. I cannot change what happened. It does not help. What helped me was staying positive and finding something (can be anything) to keep myself motivated to keep doing. There is still hope and a reason to say “It’s all good”. I now know things that help me keep the hope and that saying there to motivate me to continue. There are things to make it easier and have the best in my life. My life won’t be back to how it was, but if I stay committed to wanting to continue, it will be closer than if I would give up.
Following my accident I returned to college, graduated, have been employed full time, married, and have had 2 kids. I realized when writing a post about the date of my accident that I am getting closer to having lived longer with a brain injury than without. Understanding myself, my things, and what helps is everything.
I have a passion about brain Injury and I want to help someone if I can to get through their bad stuff because it is very relatable. 14 years ago I didn’t have anyone outside of the hospital that I knew with a brain injury. I didn’t have confidence at that time to talk about it like I do now. I want to be that person who posts something relevant and meaningful that truly helps.
I hope we can connect more through my social media page. Thank you TBI One Love for the connection, and the ability sharing my story with other survivors!
