My TBI occurred in 1975 between seventh and eighth grade when I was on vacation in Iowa with my dad. I was in the back seat and riding with his girlfriend and her son back to her house from the campsite outside Solon, Iowa. We were passing in a no passing zone and hit head on by an oncoming car. I had a severe head injury, broken leg and broken collar bone. Nobody else in the car survived. The doctors at the University of Iowa Hospital at Iowa City, Iowa, saved my life. They said that if I lived, I would probably be a vegetable, retarded or partially or fully paralyzed. When I awoke, I had been transferred to the hospital in Peoria, Illinois. I was paralyzed on the right side on the upper half of my body. My grandmom from Iowa stayed in the hospital room with me to reorient me.

I went back to school after I got out of the hospital and the second semester started. I graduated from eighth grade with the rest of the class at the gifted grade school in Peoria, Illinois. I also went to State Science Fair that year with a project I had only planned in my mind the previous year. After that, I went to high school and people treated me badly. Other students stole my homework and changed my answers in class. I was put in regular classes due to that. I smoked pot in defiance to authority which I believed had let me down. I graduated.

I went to college after that. I partied and drank alcohol there. I graduated with awards and a BA in journalism, French and English. When I got home, I applied for a job at the place that I thought could have saved me all that suffering in high school if the editors had printed my letters to the editor when I suffered at the hands of my fellow students. The Peoria Journal Star would not hire me because I smoked pot prior to the interview and made a fool of myself. I wore a Harley Davidson t-shirt with no brassiere (I have rather big mammary glands) and blue jeans.

As a result of my pot smoking and alcohol consumption, I landed in the mental institution many times. I am now alcohol and drug free. I am trying to pick up my life. TBI and consumption of illegal drugs or alcohol is not wise.

Email Catherine