To the families

To family members who have a loved one
with hypoxic or anoxic brain injury

Never, never give up. You are the hope and the future. The brain is complex. While we use less than 10% of the cells in our brain, the medical profession knows little about the brain and how it operates. It takes love and patience for recovery.Your loved ones has YOU on their side. That is critical in the days ahead.

My daughter suffered an anoxic brain injury on May 26, 2010, following a simple retina eye repair. One day she was normal, the next she was unresponsive. The doctors told me I would never have the answer to what actually caused the brain injury. She fought valiantly to recover for 16 months. I have posted some of her videos on this blog. While Brenna died, she did not die of the brain injury. She died as the result of months of inept care in various facilities that set her body into an imbalance. None of the facilities were equipped to care for a patient who was a brittle diabetic and none would follow the routine Brenna used at home. They allowed her potassium to overload her body and the coumadin caused internal bleeding. Yet, in spite of all that, she lived to struggle forward. I am proud of her efforts to survive and I have no regrets for saving her live and working with her.

I was proud the day she sat on the side of the bed, six weeks after her injury and took her first stumbling steps in the LiteGait that fall. I was proud when over a year later, she made her first word that came out as "ma-um".

I recently asked a mom what she would tell Congress if she had just one thing to say. Her quote: "When you have seen ONE brain injury, you have seen ONE brain injury." All are different because of the complexity of the brain.

In the coming days you will hear many confusing statements from the medical profession. That is their job as they see it. They may tell you that anything you see as positive is "just the brain injury". No, no one knows your loved one  better than you do. You know when a movement or expression is back to pre-injury days. Hold those in your heart and know that others here have gone through this same experience.

Pam
Brenna's proud mom