Traumatic brain injury either can be an accidental injury such as it can occur due to a car accident, a kick in the head from a horse or a fall off your bicycle.

Or it could be a medical injury, like a stroke or an aneurysm.

The nature of traumatic brain injury is actually physiological.

You know, it's not a mental disability.

It's not an emotional imbalance and it's not a psychological deficit.

It has symptoms that are in the dozens and they range from anything from memory loss to paralysis to speech deficits to motor skills.

What's worse is that it takes one away from oneself for a racist identity and one has to start over again.

Worst of all, it really leaves you feeling outside of the tribe like you no longer contributing to the community and you feel kind of segregated from the world.

One of the many services that the traumatic brain injury waiver system offers is the ability to participate in a structured day program.

A structured day program offers an adult with a traumatic brain injury an opportunity to work on personal goals in a group setting.

Some individuals work with an independent living skills trainer working on personal goals.

That's one on one.

A day program is an opportunity to work on personal goals.

But in a group setting.

Have a number of symptoms from traumatic brain injury.

I did learn to walk again, talk again, hold a pen and write again.

But I found that my life wasn't returned.

Not even close.

I didn't fit in anywhere.

I was unfamiliar with who I was or what things I liked or didn't like.

90% of individuals that are married when they get a brain injury, that marriage, 90% of marriage dissolves.

Your friends that we are close, personal friends.

It may be a week and maybe a month.

It may take a year, but those people sort of fade away.

It's a difficult thing, and they're left with a friendship that they don't know how to maintain.

Because you're so different, you really become a different individual.

You're not the same person as you were before the injury.

What people should remember about traumatic brain injury is that it's not the end of life.

It is not too late.

It can be frustrating because of the dozens of devastating symptoms that go along with it.

And every injury is a little bit different.

But what people need to remember is not to give up hope.

There is help out there.

Not only can you reclaim what was lost, but you can rebuild something better.

I find it fascinating working with adults with traumatic brain injury.

And I guess I guess why it is, is because they're you and I.

They were silversmiths and they were teachers and they were the grocery store clerk until a moment in time when their life completely changed.

A message I like to put out there for people is one of safety and precaution.

Brain injuries can be so easily achieved through any injury to the head.

And so for children especially, you know, if you're out there riding the skateboard, if you're out there riding a bike, make sure you wear your helmet.

Don't worry about whether or not it looks silly because you could look silly here with an injury that you didn't have to have.

You know, if you're in a vehicle, make sure you wear a safety belt, Any situation you're in, make sure that you take the necessary precautions.

The brain is a fabulous tool and we use it to run our whole body.

So let's protect it.