I am Kelly, a brain injury survivor and caregiver to a daughter who sustained a traumatic brain injury at age three as the result of a car accident. My daughter's injury was life-threatening, and the diagnosis was immediate, even though the prognosis was not. My injury wasn't diagnosed until we returned home following her in-patient rehabilitation.
My name is Polly Williamson and in December 2011, aged 42 years, I was kicked in the head by a horse causing a traumatic brain injury. I was in a coma for 11 days and had post traumatic amnesia for two months.
Having suffered with anxiety most of my life, and particularly badly for the past couple of years, the diagnosis of my aneurysm in October 2023 hit me hard. I was already in a bad place with my mental health.
On May 9, 2024, Timofey suffered an ischemic stroke in the brainstem, which then caused a hemorrhagic symptom in the pontine region. This life-altering event has brought numerous challenges, but also moments of profound hope and progress.
My name is Joan. I’m 49 years old from Sheffield, England. In October 2017, I suffered a subarachnoid haemorrhage. I was fit, healthy and had no symptoms. I simply left my workplace as normal at 5pm on a Friday afternoon, climbed into my car and all I remember is a huge clap of thunder in my head. Then, I found myself looking at the car key in my hand and laughing, thinking, “I don’t know what to do with this!”
On September, 21st 2023, while I was out for my usual 5am run on Tawa Street, I got hit by a car. Running was a big part of my life. That morning, my dad found me. My eye socket was blown out, but thankfully, I didn't have any lasting eye problems.
My name is Mariana Hibert, I'm Mexican and I'm a social worker. My brain injury story begins in my adolescence when I was diagnosed at the age of 19 with Takayasu's Arteritis. a rare genetic and immune disease affecting the circulatory system. It's seen as an arterial inflammation causing an obstruction or aneurysm towards any vital organs. In my case, both of the carotids were occluded, so the blood irrigation of the brain was insufficient.
I had a massive stroke that affected my left brain. I was healthy, going out, taking care of my two kids and a husband, and working full time. Out of the blue, I fell back to my bed and slumped down to the floor. I thought...‘oh my, this is going to be it’.
Something didn’t feel right. I felt like my vision had changed. I was aware that I couldn’t see the full windscreen from my position in the driver’s seat. This was odd. I thought it was a migraine so I decided to leave the car, take my son on a short walk to my father’s house, take some paracetamol and have a lie down.
In 2017, I sustained a traumatic brain injury from a fall in the Rocky Mountains and fractured my occipital bone, which is in the back of my skull. This caused my brain to bounce off the inside of my skull resulting in three large brain haemorrhages, nearly fatal cerebral oedema or swelling of my brain, loss of my sense of smell, and several new disabilities.