Update: Thank you so much for all the comments! Listen to the podcast about this video and my anniversary here.

It’s that time again. Without warning, the Earth has completed another rotation around our sun and it’s time to reflect on the anniversary, or “re-birthday” as some survivors call it, of my severe traumatic brain injury. It’s difficult to comprehend just how much my life has changed since my fall five years ago. Comatose and diagnosed with a diffuse axonal injury (and a 10% chance of recovery), my world was turned upside down. Not a day has passed since that I’m not grateful to still be alive.

My mother got the call about my fall and hospitalization in the early morning of Mother’s Day, May 8th, 2011. Not the call she was expecting. Her actions on that day forever changed the way I view Mother’s Day and the important women it celebrates. I owe my life to my mother for more than the fact that she brought me into the world…she also brought me back from the brink of death.

Within hours of receiving the call, she touched down in NYC and was quickly by my side as I lay in a twelve-day coma. Over the next year, she was a tremendous caregiver and support as I moved through intense surgeries, therapies, and confronted hard truths. I invite you to read more about her involvement in my journey in her interview: “A Sit Down – With Mama Bear on VT Works”

 

Important Lessons from a Difficult Journey

I wanted to celebrate my anniversary by talking about things I’ve learned along the recovery journey. Limiting this video to FIVE lessons was not easy. There’s so much I’ve learned, and continue to learn, about myself, from other survivors, family, and practitioners…it never ends. The reality is, we don’t “get over” traumatic events. We confront them, accept, make room for them, adapt, and keep learning.

That process of learning and adaption is what I hoped to capture in this video, elaborating on some checkpoints along the way:

1. Every brain injury is unique
2. The brain is plastic
3. The importance of nutrition
4. Supporting therapy
5. Attitude and mentality

 

Blowing out the Candles

I want to say a special “thank you” to this community and the many of you who have been my support along the way. Whether or not this is the first time you’ve ever heard of my story, or if you’ve followed my blog and work along the way, you and I are here, at this moment, fortunate to be alive. That connection brings me great joy and is worthy of celebration.

So here’s to us, to life, and to five more years. Cheers!

 

Watch: Five Important Lessons on the Five Year Anniversary of my Brain injury