Advice from Pat


 

Here are some comments from Pat outside of their responses to your questions!


To those of you who submitted questions regarding the following: helping someone with memory loss, helping a family member to understand mild brain injury, and sports concussions, please consult the updated list of FAQ’s or information; look under Problems After TBI-Cognitive; Special Issues-Family; and Basic Aspects-Causes, respectively. Pat is especially concerned about you people with sports concussions . . . don’t become another Mike Tyson.


The despair expressed in the previous "Dear Pat" question is a desolation that so many have experienced and conveyed to Pat through this column. Please read some words of encouragement submitted to Pat from our site's visitors.

"You must never give up hope for any type of recovery in your child. Even the smallest steps gained during recovery should be viewed as positive because they can lead to more steps. Kids need their families' support more than anything else."

"I know how you are feeling. I was in a wreck 3 years ago and I have a head injury. I tried going back to work and fell into a depression too deep to express. The injury was work-related and I was on workman's compensation. It took a year of court hearings and doctors to get back onto compensation benefits because no one thought of my depression and other cognitive problems as injury-related. I am, now, sitting in a rehab hospital 3 years after my accident finally getting the treatment I need. Good luck and don't let anyone tell you that you are making anything up!!"


From a very wise site visitor: "One thing I have learned since recovering from amnesia: to ignore is worse than forgetting."

The contents of this website were developed over time under a series of grants from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR). NIDILRR is a Center within the Administration for Community Living (ACL), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The contents of this website do not necessarily represent the policy of NIDILRR, ACL, HHS, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.