Portrait: Jason

I originally acquired a brain injury as a teenager when I lived in England. The injury was not diagnosed for approximately 5 years. Eventually, I was diagnosed with hydrocephalus and had a shunt placed. This unfortunately failed twice causing me to go into comas...

A little bit about Jason 

Eventually the shunt was replaced and worked well. However, the pressure which had built up on my brain caused irreparable damage. Saying that though, I was one of the lucky ones.  

 

How the brain injury affected me 

I have most of my physical faculties unaffected. What was affected were unnoticeable problems or what people often refer to as invisible issues such as tiredness, temperament problems and other emotional challenges. On the outside, I looked relatively normal which made things worse.  

It was a case of, you have healed and therefore everything is fine. No one could understand the issues that were not physical which were affecting me daily. 

 

My life now 

Fast forward 35 years and I am now a married man living in Texas, USA. Recently, things started going wrong and to cut a long story short, I ended up having two more brain surgeries in February 2023 to rectify complications which occurred with the shunt. I now have a new state-of-the-art shunt (for which I feel blessed to have).  

However, a lot of the issues which I had to overcome as a teenager have resurfaced and now, I have a family and wife who don’t understand the impact of this on my emotional and mental well-being .  

Once again, everything has been rectified and I appear to be relatively normal and have been lucky yet again. Inside though, old uncertainties and challenges which are again not obvious to the naked eye are challenging me once more. 

 

I am done with allowing the brain injury to impact my life 

The problems since the re-occurrence of the brain issue initially had a huge impact on me and really affected me. I was told that my cognitive issues would mean I would have to be registered as disabled. This naturally led me to becoming depressed and giving in.  

I made the conscious decision a few weeks ago to not accept this. I was done with allowing this brain injury to impact my life. It was time to stop feeling sorry for myself. I am alive.  

I went back to work and although the first job I took did not work out, I got accepted in a role last week to teach life skills to individuals with learning difficulties. That is God at work if ever I saw it. My relationships are slowly improving and although I have a lot of bridges to rebuild, I will not give in 

I have also transformed myself, physically, emotionally and spiritually. I have gone from feeling sorry for myself to having a ‘never-say-die' attitude.  

My advice to anyone is to not allow whatever has occurred to hold you back. God has a plan; it may not be your plan, but you can achieve anything if you decide to. 

As echoed in Jason’s words, many people struggle to express the true impact that their brain injury has had on them. For people like Jason who courageously keep going through life’s challenges, we want to support their journeys and be with them every step of the way. By donating to us, you can ensure that we can carry out that mission.  

 

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