Many of you have written to SameYou about your experience of brain injury and told us how you identified with Emilia's story. There was a common feeling of relief about hearing a familiar story from someone young, and speaking out to normalise the injury. People were comforted that Emilia had gone through something similar to them or to a family member or loved one.
The overwhelming emotion was of gratitude that Emilia was breaking her silence and that enabled and emboldened so many others to tell their brain injury story - some for the first time. It was as if people now have permission to speak out about their story.
I get days when I just want to give up. But after hearing your story it has made me realise, I'm not on my own!
You have told us that by sharing your stories, and reading other people's, offers hope, comfort and much needed peer-to-peer support that is often hard to find.
SameYou have created this support resource called Portraits to tell the untold story of brain injury. If you would like to share your story, you can submit your story via our Share your story page.
Hi, my name is Evgenia. In 2008, my life took an unexpected turn when I became a survivor of a near-fatal car crash. The aftermath left me with a multi-fragmentary fracture, extensive soft-tissue damage, clinical death, transient global amnesia and retinal detachment.
In January 2021, I had been feeling off for a while. I went to see an ophthalmologist. From that point on, it all went very fast. He sent me to get a brain MRI the same day, then I was sent straight to the university hospital. They had identified a 35 mm (about 1.38 in) aneurysm in my brain.
Aged 33, I was hit by a racing bike that skipped the lights whilst I was crossing the road. I was almost home when it happened. I remember recognising that an impact was imminent and seeing the white of the rider's eyes. After hitting my head, I only recall being picked out of the road by a stranger; the rider was gone.
I experienced an ABI in October 2021. Following a successful donor stem cell transplant to cure Hodgkins Lymphoma, I developed an extraordinarily rare form of post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder (PTLD) resulting in multiple brain lesions.
My name is Juan Jose, I am 35 years old and I am a social worker from the Republic of Honduras, Central America. I want to share my experience as a survivor of a ruptured brain aneurysm and the challenges that followed in my recovery process.
My name is Samantha. When I have to tell someone about my brain injury, I just say ‘I fell down’. My story is long and, quite frankly, traumatising. So I say, ’I had a fall’. I do wish my story was cooler for you. I wish it involved sharks or crazy daredevil stunts.
My name is Chris and I’m here to tell my story after being inspired by other survivors who have already shared theirs. I don’t like to talk about myself, but I think I need to practice doing this, and, for some reason, I thought this would be a safe place to start.
My name is Eliana, and I live in Providence, Rhode Island, with my husband and two daughters. Although I was diagnosed with a hemorrhagic stroke on October 7, 2022, at the age of 40, receiving this diagnosis and timely medical care was more of a challenge than you’d think.
This is my story about an acquired neurological condition which was estimated to affect around 1 in 3 million people when I received my diagnosis in 2016. Now, current estimates suggest it could be much more prevalent and affect around 1 in 2000 people, which makes it a borderline rare disease in the United Kingdom.
I have suffered two traumatic brain injuries (TBI’s) in my life. The first was in 2002, when I sustained a serious TBI after being assaulted. The second was during my penultimate university summer holidays in 2008; after cycling into a wall at the end of a sloping decline and falling 20 feet...