About Episodes

With much hard work and support, my daughter Sarah, with brain injury since age 12, has finished her Dissertation completed her professional internship, and graduated with PhD in 2023. She has been working hard towards her dream degree, of all things, a PhD in Neuropsychology. In retrospect, this has been a long road, and I must say that I am impressed with her persistence and dedication to higher education and her degree despite her brain injury. I also must say that it has been a long road for me and others who have provided support. We have been dealing with Sarah’s brain injury and its consequences for over 24 years, chapter after chapter, and episode after episode.

In the process of helping Sarah, I have been uncovering and rediscovering my own struggle with my brain injury symptoms. This was the result of several drastic mishaps, including a hit-and-run bike accident 45 years ago, where I was airborne for more than 40 feet, landed on my head without a helmet, and lost my left leg where I was hit. I was told I am lucky to be alive. Now that I have lived through brain injury symptoms for many years, I find myself connecting with Sarah on a deeper and more intellectual level. Dealing with my own brain injury, while providing support for someone dear with an injured brain, has created many shared experiences.

Brain injury can be either traumatic or acquired. Traumatic brain injury can be the result of a blunt force trauma to the head, with or without penetration. This includes military combat, sports injuries, and accidents such as mine, among other things. Acquired brain injuries include all other causes of brain function disruption, including disease and hereditary condition. In Sarah’s case, a hereditary condition, Arteriovenous Malformation (AVM), led to a hemorrhagic stroke at age 12, and multiple Gamma Knife radiation treatments over the following 20 years. AVM is a deformation of blood vessels and veins, in her case, in a large area on the left side of her brain. The brain damage resulting from the hemorrhagic stroke, and all the biological and hormonal changes resulting from multiple sessions of Gamma Knife surgeries, have contributed to different brain function disruptions. Whether acquired or hereditary, or the result of Covid-19, the changes in the brain and the brain function disruptions can sometimes result in significant symptoms, as well as emotional and behavioral changes in brain injury survivors.

Following a brain injury, testing and evaluations by a doctor and neurologist lead to diagnosis and explanation of physical changes. But other emotional and behavioral changes are usually not addressed until specific symptoms arise. By the time symptoms are present, a journey of confusing emotions and behavioral challenges has already began. Those challenges can be overwhelming, and a patient may feel like they are living in someone else’s brain or someone else’s body. While there have been advances in medical diagnostics and treatment of injured brains, the challenges in catching up with the emotional and behavioral components remain. For example, there are a variety of brain scan technologies to pinpoint most medical issues with the brain, but we only have a few variations of the same neuropsychological evaluation – and even then, it is not offered or ordered often enough, or in all needed cases. In my case, I never had one completed.

Our experience dealing with the medical, emotional and psychological aspects of brain injury are described from both injured and support perspectives, they are twofold. First, brain injury with immediate consequences, such as Sarah’s, which we have dealt with for over 24 years. Second, brain injury of sleeper consequences (as in my case, slowly appearing). The stories we share are grounded in real-life experiences filled with setbacks, resilience, and continuous learning. We highlight hindsight moments—critical lessons we wish we’d known sooner—offering insights that can be invaluable to others walking this path. Through our episodes, we aim to bridge personal experiences with professional perspectives, integrating Sarah’s expertise in neuropsychology, neurorehabilitation, and social isolation.

Whether you are a brain injury survivor or a caregiver, our stories are shared to inspire progress and provide practical guidance, helping you navigate this complex journey with greater clarity and hope.