I went to a Halloween party in 2001. I left the bar at 1:30 a.m. to catch my cab. Last thing I can remember was pushing the button on the light pole to cross the street. Next day I wake up in a hospital. Turns out it wasn't the next morning, but three weeks later. I was comatose that whole time. My sister told me what happened.

I was hit by a truck and thrown in a gutter- unconscious. Enroute to the hospital my body stopped breathing twice- revived twice with an intubation tube. After arriving at emergency I stopped breathing again. They cut a hole in my throat and inserted a tracheal tube to get me breathing again. I soon fell into that coma. During the first 24 hours, two emergency craniotomies were performed to relieve the swelling.

They also found bleeding in my brain. Next day, 2 gran mal seizures. Day after, they found a blood clot that required surgery but they couldn't do it. The surgery would cause the clot to progress into my lungs which would have killed me, but they did use a blood thinner. The next day, as my vitals grew worse, my kidneys and liver failed. I hear my body was gasping for breath. It was then when the doctors asked my mom if they could remove me from life support. In their eyes it would be better for me in the long run. They said if I lived I would be a permanently brain-dead paraplegic, forever confined to a bed. Mom said "No, you don't know my son, he'll be fine", then handed the doctor a rosary, asking him to hang it on my bed in ICU. He didn't know what it was, but did it anyway. After he did, my vitals miraculously came back, and here I am today.

As I've learned is often the case with TBI survivors, my left hand doesn't work, my speech is bad now (but very slowly getting better, at least I hope) some balance problems, have to wear glasses now, some short-term memory problems, an unorganized life that is very hermit-like.

The things I thank my God for: Relearned how to walk three months later. (Pretty much defied the doctors prognosis), drive my car again- but rarely since at times I feel "off", and even though I can only type with my right hand, I'm doing it. The questionable things: Where the heck did my close friends disappear to? Am I some sort of embarrassing freak now? That brought on years of immense depression. In order to alleviate that, I had to let those certain "friends" go. Now, I feel like I'm coming out of that severe mental fog, which brougt with it constant suicidal thoughts. But who would have won if that happened? Those "friends" and my TBI, thats who! Things aren't as good as they were five-years ago, but still, I'm alive. Because of what I have learned I now know that I'm not lucky. Instead I am incredibly fortunate. From other TBI survivors stories I see how my situation could have easily been so much worse. Now, its my responsibility to be there for other survivors- to give the caring, support, and understanding that they can't find anywhere else. It may not show here, but before my TBI, I wrote a lot. Of the things I have, God let me keep my writing- even if its only with one hand. I think its time that our world gets a better understanding of TBI's, the effects- weather social, economic, health care, family, mental, the devastation that happens in our hearts brought on by so many misunderstandings. From these, I am now writing my first book.

I am very proud to declare myself a Traumatic Brain Injury Survivor!

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