"It wasn't hell, but you could see it from there." That is 33-year-old Bob's description of what life was like for him during almost 10 years spent in nursing homes and a rehabilitation center. Bob suffered a traumatic brain injury in a motorcycle wreck at age 19 resulting in almost complete paralysis. He now lives in his own home in Lawrence and receives assistance through The Home and Community Based Services Waiver for Persons with a Head Injury (HI).
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When Gerard asked me to write an article for this newsletter, I readily agreed since I’ve been having fun posting letters to the editor of the Lawrence newspaper. However, the deadline’s closing in and I’m still having trouble putting my thoughts together. Maybe it’s because this is the first time I’ve tried to write about the brain injury I sustained in 1992. I suppose this is a record of surviving not only the accident, but the aftermath as well, which most will agree was the hard part.
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Nature, time and patience are the three great physicians-This was my fortune received a few days after my son Ken suffered a massive shearing brain injury in a head on collision in Seattle.
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My son, David, had just turned 14 the week before when he was struck by a minivan while riding his bicycle on June 16, 1998. David was a tall, slender boy that was just starting to muscle up. He was out riding the trails through the Baker Wetlands near Lawrence when heading home, he didn't see a minivan moving at 45 mph. The bicycle helmet saved his life, barely. After breaking two ribs, collapsing a lung, and hitting his head on the windshield, David was thrown to the road suffering a good case of road rash. Almost immediately, an amazing series of events started that showed us that what usually happens, doesn't always happen.
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Music has been a big part of my life since I was a child. I was born in 1983 in a small town in Eastern Kansas. On September 11, 1986 I was hit by a car and suffered severe trauma to my larynx and spent a couple of years with no voice at all. By the time I reached 12 years of age I was writing lyrics to songs that I knew someday I would be rapping. At that time I still had a tracheotomy that I had gotten back at the time of the accident in 1986. I had several surgeries to try to correct the problem and get the trach removed. At the age of 13 my doctor told me that the surgeries were not working. He also told me that I had no identifiable vocal cords. God is a good God and by his grace I will continue to rap.
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Pondering-

It's an odd fish to sit in one place and not move-

How dare he not live as the rest of us do-

He hardly eats-

Only taking what comes his way-

Rarely ever leaping after a bite not close at bay-

When he does we all gaze and wonder-

Is he done for now-

He just sits to ponder-

Patricia is working her way back. With persistence. A former model and aerobic dance instructor who owned her own dance studio, Patricia's life was changed dramatically as the result of an automobile wreck. The car she was driving was hit head on by a vehicle driven by a drunken driver in January, 1991.
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My name is Greg. I’m 42 years old and have been with communityworks, inc for two years. I’ve come a long way in those two years. I will be graduating from the program in January.

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Everyone lies, but why? I got jumped. Somebody hopped over my head, and left me for dead. When they got their hop on, I got my stop on. I was in a coma. I was resting. I took a nap. I woke up to a crazy world of lies. The doctors told me that I would never be able to get the tube out of my stomach. My mother came to the hospital with my brother, who was eating a pizza. I immediately got hungry as heck and asked for a slice. He gave me a slice and I ate it with no problem. And then about two hours later they took the tube out of my stomach. It's strange how things happen; after my head injury, that was my first bite...

C.H.R.I.S.T.M.A.S.

C is for Christ, who died for our sins.

H is for Happiness that I feel within.

R is for Reasons that I'm thankful for life.

I is for indulgence that I have to touch someone's life.

S is for the good Spirit that I carry with me.

T is for the Tenderness that I show with glee.

M is for the Miraculous day that our Savior was born.

A is for the Astonishing Miracle that happened many years ago.

S is for the Shining Star that showed the 3 wise men the location of the manger.

And Christmas should be known to every friend or stranger

Self-Direction is not a concept that cwi consumer Dustin Thorne had ever heard of prior to his accident. After suffering a C-4 incomplete injury to his spinal cord in a 2004 ATV accident, Dustin became aware of this concept very abruptly and has had to master it in order to live.
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