For Patients and Professionals

In 1986, I had a near-death experience when I had a brain injury, a moderate TBI. In some ways, I did "die; I vividly remember the difficulty, headaches, and humiliation following my brain injury, when I could not complete simple tasks or even think clearly. Everything wore me out. I was no longer who I remembered myself to be.

No rehabilitation services were offered at the time, I believe, because doctors weren't trained to believe recovery was possible. I went from being an honor roll student and gymnast to being unable to speak, read, walk in a straight line, or find my body in space.

I was lucky--and extremely determined. Looking back, I see that I intuitively gave myself a progression of therapeutic activities to rehabilitate myself. I remapped my brain and body. I retrained myself to walk, write, speak, and read, and within about 3 years, I was more or less a version of myself that I could accept as the new me.

About ten years post-brain injury, I took neurology classes at university, wanting to find a way to help other patients recover. Instead, I was taught that once a section of the brain was damaged, the associated capability was gone forever. Neuroplasticity was still described as a sort of myth, something that happened with some chance few patients as "spontaneous recovery", rather than the result of deliberate therapeutic activities; my professors knew of no careers in neurorehabilitation. I was living proof that recovery was possible, but without that stepping stone to enter the world of medicine, I went into engineering.

Fast forward the story nearly 30 years, I discovered there ARE careers to help patients with brain injury recover. I chose neuro-optometry as my main treatment modality, while recognizing that 1) It can take a constellation of practitioners to help patients in their rehabilitation program 2) Every patient is different, and it's not a one-size-fits-all approach to neuro-rehab.

I'm dedicating this website, this blog, and the second half of my career to helping patients with neurological challenges on their path to recovery and personal empowerment. I want inform patients and their loved ones and connect good practitioners to other good practitioners to make this possible. It can be done, and I hope you join me to create a true NeuroRehab360 community. :)