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My TBI was the result of years of building troubles. To put it in a nutshell this is it.

I dated my highschool "sweetheart" for 5 years before getting married thinking I would know who I married. Things went well and we had two children and thru the years children and life in general get hard at times. As time passed he became very cold and harsh. We needed more income so I took a job at a local funeral home as a receptionist. I found out that that was what I had been looking for my whole life.

The funeral business helps the living deal with loss and taking care of the deceased is medical and very interesting. I decided to put myself thru mortuary school while working full time. The troubles got even worse and we separated in Oct. of 1995.

I graduated with honors with a GPA of 4.0 in May of 1996 and took my national and state board exams in July and became a licensed Funeral Director and Embalmer in July of 1996. I had dated while separated a very nice man, Richard (pictured with my boys and I) and I guess that my estranged husband figured I had a life being I had a good job and a boyfriend. One week before the final child custody hearing I guess he snapped. I came home from work at 11:00 PM on July 23, 1996 and went to sleep after saying goodnight over thephone to my boyfriend. I never woke up. My estranged husband snuck into the house after cutting the phone lines and attacked me. He crushed my skull with a hammer and stabbed me 10 times.

The boys came in to say good morning mom and found me. They ran downstairs to get my disabled mother who lived in an in-law apt. They got 911 thru a neighbor's phone and I was rushed to the nearest trauma center. The neurosurgeon said that all the bones on the right side of my skull were crushed like cornflakes and he lost count of the fractures after about 20. They pieced together my skull after removing a golfball sized hematoma from my brain and part of the damaged brain. They then sewed together my head and face. I was in the hospital for 22 days and then fired from the job I had just gotten a raise at the week before the attack because my boss said I was no longer 100% perfect. That hurt.

My then boyfriend was told I would be dead or a vegtable but he stuck by me and my boys. We were married on February 1, 1997. I have never been happier. I am married to someone with a heart.

My EX-HUSBAND was convicted with all the circumstancial evidence in July 1997 and sentensed to 40 years in prison (a new trial gave him only 20). I was like Nicole Brown Simpson as she could not speak, nor could I as far as the moments during the attack. You all know that you don't remember much if anything. I thank God for all of you caring folks out there who know the hell of TBI.
As you see in the group picture, Richard, myself and the boys are together and
Together we can make it.

The latest chapter in my recovery from my TBI is that I do not want to stop doing what I can still do. I have been artistic and thanks to God I did not lose my long term memory and talents. My new living situation made it necessary to build a new garage so we could make the old garage an in-law apt. for my disabled mother. When the new garage was complete my new husband Richard wanted to make the bare white walls interesting so he asked if I could paint his favorite NASCAR driver racing on the wall and also all the natural things he and I both love which are deer, fish etc. So in the year of 1998 I did what I can do which is in the pictures seen here. All of the murals I painted are each 8 feet by 20 feet ! The detail needs to be seen in person but as you can see here I am not handicapped I am handi CAPABLE! I have bad days as all of us TBIers do but I will continue to do what I can if it can braing happiness to someone. That is what makes me happy. I can be emailed at mawfd@alcnet.com
Love to all, Mary Ann