Portrait: Rirhandzu

A little bit about Rirhandzu

I was involved in a car accident in 2020 and was diagnosed with a Traumatic Brain Injury. I was 13 at the time so I didn’t really know what a Traumatic Brain injury was. I was in hospital for three months; one and a half months in a trauma unit in an unconscious state.

My recovery 

As soon as I regained consciousness, I was moved to a Rehabilitation Centre where I was re-taught everything that I had learned as a child.

I couldn’t walk and I couldn’t speak properly. I remember asking my parents why I was in hospital because I absolutely couldn’t remember anything. To this day, I still can’t remember anything about the day of the car accident or anything before that. 

My passion

I’ve now found an interest in researching the human brain and how it functions and what exactly happens to the brain when a TBI occurs.

How life has changed

My life has really changed after the accident and the TBI has changed my academic performance in school. I went from being a top performing learner in school to now being a below average learner, but I have hope that I can still become who I was before the accident.

A quote that inspires me

One thing that encourages me is this phrase that I keep in my mind:

My Brain Injury does not define me

With this in mind, I believe I can accomplish anything and everything. I want to share my story and change lives. I want people to know that having a brain injury doesn’t make you different from anyone else.

There is a huge stigma associated with brain injury. At SameYou, we hope to normalise brain injury and help survivors feel supported so they know they haven’t lost the person they were before. Telling your personal story is a powerful way to normalise the issues that many are faced with following brain injury.

Will you join us today and donate to help fund more research and therapies for brain injury survivors?