Brain Injury Survivor's Guide

Welcome to Our World

A simple hysterectomy gone wrong. A second emergency surgery 36 hours later. ARDS. A phone call: "Larry, you need to come to the hospital. There's been a Code Blue!"

"I don't expect her to survive the trauma."

"You may never be able to work again."

Beth and Larry Jameson share the story of Beth's brain injury and the strategies she used to overcome cognitive, memory and behavioral problems to resume a successful and productive life. Beth's story is one of hope and inspiration. The strategies outlined in the book are essential for brain injury victims.

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I Can't Remember Me

Judy writes, "Our son-in-law Jerry, choking and sobbing, cried that Courtney and Zachary had been involved in a car accident and were being life-lined to a hospital..."

"She was in a deep coma and was on life support from a traumatic brain injury."

"This is not the Courtney I once knew."

Judy Martin-Urban is Courtney's mother. Together they share the story of Courtney's brain injury and the many struggles faced by daughter and family.

Courtney writes, "My husband tells me that I am different now, but I can't remember me. Mom says that my personality is changed, but I don't remember my other personality."

Click here for more information about I Can't Remember Me: Recovery After Traumatic Brain Injury.

Surviving Black Ice

This is not simply a feel good story about a miraculous recovery. David (or, DJ as I've come to know him) takes the reader through ten years of life as the car he was driving hit a patch of Black Ice.

"By this time, back in Illinois, my family had been contacted. A State Trooper called my father at work and told him his son had been killed in an auto accident."

"When I awoke from the coma, I was like a newborn. I had no cognitive abilities, very simple thinking processes, and no ability to communicate."

"I could sum up my entire therapeutic experience in one word, and that word is "frustration." ...one of the things I wanted to do was tie my own shoes. I struggled, but finally got my shoes on my feet. Then I held the laces and sat there staring at them."

"Another characteristic indicative of my mental state was the fact that I couldn't seem to keep my mouth shut about anything. Whatever came to mind, no matter how embarrassing it was to others, or myself, no matter how tactless or hurtful it was, it came out."

David's statements should sound familiar to those who have read our book, Brain Injury Survivor's Guide, because his words give life, another life, to issues we discussed. We are extremely pleased to have David as a long-distance friend and a Contributor to this website.

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Over My Head

A Doctor's Own Story of Head Injury
from the Inside Looking Out

Until 1988 Dr. Claudia Osborn used her degrees from Vassar College and Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine in her internal medicine practice at an inner-city hospital in Detroit, Michigan.

Then -- "The grille of his car struck my bike full force, catapulting me over its roof and into the air. Marcia says she will never forget that night. I will never remember it."

Then -- "I hadn't checked her X ray. It was an error I thought I was incapable of making..." That incident forced Claudia to make a doctor's appointment for herself and, like so many other persons who have suffered brain injury, heard those words about her future employment, "Do not practice medicine again until I examine you."

Beth and I truly enjoyed reading this book. Perhaps one reason is that, like Beth, Claudia tried to live life like she always had before she ever received brain injury treatment. She was going through memory, cognitive and behavioral problems...and didn't know why.

When asked what she was going to eat, Claudia replied, "Postage...crumbled cereal. That's not quite right. I only have the brand name right."

Though she is unaware, Claudia's writing is a big plug for our book, Brain Injury Survivor's Guide, because of all the lists and strategies our book contains. She wrote:

"Shopping was a problem for many reasons. I couldn't decide what to put on my list. I didn't know where to go or what to buy. I would forget to take the list. I would remember the list but forget money. Decisions involving sizes and brands were most easily solved by buying nothing."

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Get to the Heart: My Story

Barbara Mandrell, beautiful and multi-talented, took the Country Music world by storm. Fans loved not only her music but her the values and faith she showed as a wife and mother. The world, as they say, was at her doorstep.

Then, in September 1984, a car crossed two lanes of traffic, hit Barbara's car head on, and her life changed forever. Barbara Mandrell suffered a brain injury.

Variety said, "This is the story of a survivor."

Click here for more information about Get to the Heart: My Story.

TBI Hell

A Traumatic Brain Injury Really Sucks

Caution: This book contains a lot of profanity.

Brain injury victim George Gosling writes about his life after a bicycle accident. "What should have taken fifteen to twenty minutes took an hour," he writes. He was walking a mile through a wooded area.

"That was because I had to figure out how to get around logs, rocks, branches, holes and other obstacles."

Gosling's story is interesting because it is written by a brain injury victim, and his writing shows many of the signs of brain injury.

Click here for more information about TBI Hell: A Traumatic Brain Injury Really Sucks.