Dream Big: In Her Words

Meet Community Member beckym9983

dreambigoct I am 25 years old with a Brain Injury that prevents me from doing a lot of things. I was fresh out of high school [when the brain injury occured] and it seems to have changed my life forever. It has caused lots of pain and stress in my life..

I was in a serious car accident which occured on July 26th, 2002. I was 18 years old when my friends and I were on our way to Wisconsin Dells to celebrate a graduation for the weekend. In an instant my life was changed forever, we were struck by an oncoming truck going appoximately 55 miles an hour. The truck t-boned the car on the passengers side. At this time we were not more than 10 miles away from home.

When EMT’s arrived I was unresponsiveand barely breathing. That’s when they dispatched the Flight for Life. They flew me to Theda Clark, where the doctors determined I had a traumatic brain injury after doing several x-rays and brain scans. I was in a coma for approximately 23 days in critical condition. I had a pressure monitor on my brain, a food tube, tracheotomy, and scraped and bruised all over yet no brokenbones. All the while I was kept alive with numerous life support systems.

After I came out of the coma I began to breathe on my own, and transfered out of critical care into a rehabilitation unit at St. Elizabeth Hospital. There, they realized I was in need of physical, occupational, and speech therapy. I had to re-learn almost everything I knew, and when I say everything I mean everything, yes that does include complaning! At that time I knew I needed the therapy to get better. For a little while I thought I didn’t need them but then I realized I needed to go to get better. So for the remaining 2 and a half months I attended in patient therapy. This then lead me far enough to go home, but I was still not perfect. I had trouble doing almost everything, yes even walking. I then attended out patient therapy for 10 months and improved my progress. I also went through extensive training to get my driver license back. So after completing from therapy I went back to school.

When I came home from the hospital I needed lots of help, but now I look fine. My family,friends, and teachers think my brain has healed but in reality it will not be completely healed ever. There are quite a bit of changes in me and they are hard for anyone to understand but my close friends and family [understands]. It’s going to take time for people to understand the changes in me. Although I will probably have some problems to deal with the rest of my life, it will not change the person that I am or will be some day.

Each Day I thank the lord and my friends and mostly my family who were there with me through it all.Thanks to all those who helped out me and my family in our time of need. Oh yeah and thanks to all the nurses and therepists who have helped me through it all. I don’t know what I would have done without all your help.