Pianist and guitarist Tom Sweitzer will perform a free concert on May 24 to thank his hometown of Altoona for supporting his early education, which he said, has led him to a successful career in music therapy.
Isaac Kolstad, the former Minnesota State football who suffered a traumatic brain injury after being punched in a nightclub district, has made big strides thanks to intensive physical therapy. Now his father and brother are launching a cross-country bike tour to raise money to help others who need the same therapy.
A high school student makes a remarkable recovery.
Five years and more than 100 road races have gone by since Julie Cesare suffered a traumatic brain injury at work. Once a nurse, Cesare has been unable to work since that time.
Two and a half million people suffer a traumatic brain injury each year. As soldiers return from overseas and football related concussions increase, that number could be on the rise.
Editors’ Note: Landin Murphy, 20, of Williamsville, suffered a traumatic brain injury during a basketball game in his freshman year of high school in December 2008.
Let’s say a 33-year-old woman is admitted to an emergency room after being in a car accident. The accident was violent and scary, but other than a mild concussion and some bruises and lacerations, she appears to be okay, physically. But once she’s been examined and bandaged, once her vital signs have been confirmed to sit in the normal ranges, another, trickier question pops up: Is she likely to develop post-traumatic stress disorder?
Here’s where current medical science falters a little bit. Sure, once PTSD symptoms manifest themselves, researchers have some ideas about how to treat them — assuming the patient has access to solid care, of course. But those same researchers are a lot less far along in their quest to predict who is most likely to develop the disorder in the first place — a task made much more difficult by the lack of understanding about why some people bounce back psychologically from trauma so much more easily than others. If researchers had clearer diagnostic procedures for PTSD risk, it would help alleviate a lot of suffering by quickly directing resources to those most at risk, particularly in big populations like returning soldiers.
There are reasons why some people don’t want to wear bike helmets. But none of them makes sense to me. If you really want to make an educated decision about whether or not to wear a helmet, then first you should know what it’s like to live with a traumatic brain injury.
Brad Dearth’s life changed forever in the few seconds it took two cars to collide.
It was a tragedy with a miraculous twist. A hotshot Texas attorney was transformed into an accomplished artist after suffering brain damage when a camera boom fell onto his head.