"Walking Wounded"

About the editor / creator: My name is Heidi. I am a 27 year old severe traumatic brain injury survivor. I sustained a diffuse axonal injury in the frontal and left temporal lobes of the brain and experienced diffuse axonal shearing of the brain. This led to damaging 3 lobes. (Diffuse axonal shearing: when the brain is slammed back and forth inside the skull it is alternately compressed and stretched because of the gelatinous consistency. The long, fragile axons of the neurons (single nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord) are also compressed and stretched. If the impact is strong enough, axons can be stretched until they are torn. This is called axonal shearing. When this happens, the neuron dies. After a severe brain injury, there is massive axonal shearing and neuron death.) In addition, I tore a small portion of my liver as well as fracturing a cervical vertebrae and a rib. My accident was on December 20, 2004. That morning I had driven from Melvindale, Michigan from visiting my boyfriend, Bob L. That Saturday, before my trip home, he asked me to be his wife! I was so excited! It was very difficult to wait to tell my parents, but I wanted to tell them in person. I made it .4 miles from my home when my accident occurred. I hit a patch of black ice that spun my car into a couple of 360s before my car landed between a group of trees. From the road, my car appeared parked. Other cars passed by, but one everyday hero stopped, at least she is a hero to me! A woman on her way to work stopped to make sure that it was just a parked car like it appeared. She found me slumped to the passenger side of my vehicle, barely breathing. She immediately called for the ambulance, but was unfamiliar with the area, and gave them the wrong street. As she waited for the ambulance, other heroes stopped to see if she needed help. My engine had been racing and there was great concern that my engine would explode. One woman was able to reach in to turn the engine off. The difficulty was that my car had been pinned between the trees that I appeared to be parked at. My heroes covered me with clothes from my back seat and waited. The ambulance called back and asked her if she was certain where she was. She told them that she can hear them, but not see them. When the ambulance arrived, I had stopped breathing. God Bless those that are put in the right place at the right moment! The EMT, from the fire department, had recognized the severity of my injuries. He had been attending classes to advance his career and he made the decision to life flight me to the nearest trauma center. Life flight touched down on the intersection in the country right by my house. Once extricated from my vehicle, I was intubated and transported via life flight. Upon arrival to the trauma center, I was a 3 on the Glasgow Coma Scale. The hospital induced my coma to reduce the severity of the brain swelling. They were uncertain if I would live or die for my first 72 hours. Although I survived the crucial, first 72 hours the doctors remained grim about my prognosis. They recommended that my parents put me into a nursing home, but my parents refused. While I was waiting for my parents to find an alternative to the nursing home, I began physical therapy in the trauma hospital. During my rehabilitation, they had noticed the right side paralysis that I sustained. I was very fortunate that the paralysis had been a temporary deficit, but it has left me with some weakness and fatigue. After the first 2 ½ weeks, my parents found a traumatic brain injury rehabilitation hospital through a member of the family. The hospital that they chose was Edwin Shaw, now renamed Akron General Edwin Shaw. I stayed there for 2 ½ months. In that time, I worked on learning to walk, talk, and do everyday tasks. I spent 11 months in speech therapy, 9 months in physical therapy, and 6 months in occupational therapy. I also chose to take a 3 hour driving test to ensure the safety of those on the road as well as my own. The test consisted of 2 hours of testing to ensure my capability of driving and 1 hour of actual driving. Taking the test was not a requirement due to my accident, but I would have never taken the chance to cause an accident for another person. I am not saying that I am the same as I was prior to my accident, but I am ok. I survived! I know that I will always have deficits, but they will be far less than those I started with. When asked, I speak one-on-one or to groups. I say that we all face this battle in recovery. It takes as much strength to battle your recovery as it takes for me. My best advice is to remain positive! I am not saying that it all gets better! It is important to make more better days than worse days. No one knows what the future holds, but if life hands you a lemon, make lemonade! Remember to think of your heroes or you may also call them angels. I could not have made it without mine! Bob and I are no longer together, but we will be bonded for the rest of our lives. Please contact me anytime! God Bless!