My Journey
Life was GREAT – I was very athletic, had a great job, was in perfect health and had a very active social calendar. I was the manager of one of the largest healthcare implementations and was definitely on my way up the corporate ladder, but then something happened that changed all of it – my life would never be the same.

The Unexpected
On January 6, 1995, I was driving home from work and skidded on a thin black sheet of ice where my car spun out of control.

My journey began on that Friday night where it seemed like a minor accident, a fender bender which resulted in a little bump on my head. Days later I would realize that the internal mechanisms of my car where totaled and the internal parts of my brain and body would appear to be totaled as well.

At the hospital two days later, I was told that I had a concussion and to take it easy. I thought I was fine but as the days and months progressed my brain was slowly slipping away. It became harder and harder to know what was happening to me and engage in every day living. I had shooting pain in my head and I had trouble understanding basic things. It took 10 months and three neurologists before I found a neurophysiologist that would ultimately diagnose me with a brain injury.

How frustrating that the three neurologists couldn’t see that my brain was not working. It was so bad that during one exam, the doctor asked me my name and my address and I could only provide him with my name. I struggled to give him my address.

A simple 10 minute test with the neurophysiologist showed how severe the damage was to my brain. I would go through physical, cognitive and occupational therapy to help me learn ways to compensate with what I was experiencing. Ultimately, it would take me more than 10 years to feel almost normal. I was one of the lucky ones, most brain injury survivors never feel normal again.

Doctors would explain that my life would not be the same. I wouldn’t be able to live in “mainstream society” or hold down a full time job. Well, I work full time with the same company I did before the accident, I go out socially and pretty much live in mainstream society. I’ve even been promoted on my job where I manage employees and now support a large organization again.

My New Journey…
It took a lot of hard work. I needed to figure out daily what was best for my brain and body. I had many frustrating times and challenging moments but it has been a journey worth taking. Each day was different for me – some pain free and other times severe pain and struggling with simple tasks. But a huge improvement from the days of lying on the sofa feeling isolated from the rest of the world.

I believe God has blessed me and has been preparing me for this journey my entire life. Prior to the accident, I was a workaholic. I loved my job but it was my entire life – I worked late each day and on weekends. And, when I wasn’t working I was studying and doing homework for the three college courses I was taking in the evening at Seton Hall University.

God tried several times to get my attention and I did not listen or slow down. So, on that fateful night in January, God allowed me to loose all the things in my life that I thought were important – my quick thinking, my ability to process information, my energy level, my physical ability and much much more. I was flat on my back and completely clueless.

God Saves and Heals
I was saved a year after my accident while watching Charles Stanley one Sunday morning. I realized he was talking to me. I had always thought of myself as a Christian – I went to church every Sunday and was very active in church. I even told the doctors that God had a plan for my life. God sure did have a plan for my life – I now have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

Years went by and there was slow and steady improvement in my life but still I lived with the challenges of being a Brain Injury Survivor until May 2008 when I attended a Ladies conference at a friend’s church. There was a session on healing that we attended. We were introduced to some of the scriptures on healing - Isaiah 53: 4 -5 - “by His stripes you are healed” and Mark 5:34 – “daughter your faith has healed you.” Once my friend heard this message she knew and believed I was healed and she introduced me to the teacher. The teachers shared with me that I was completely healed of my brain injury because of Jesus’ death on the cross – I listened but I wasn’t convenienced she understood the magnitude of my injuries. At this same time I was also dealing with lighting bolt flashes in my eyes and a couple of other medical conditions – doctors couldn’t find what was causing the flashes – the brain doctors said it was my eye and my eye doctors said it was the brain injury. I was lost – and had no answers –

Over the next couple of months I felt I needed to continue to attend my friend’s church – there was a pull on my life and this teacher was there to continue to help me understand the scriputres. I felt my body was being attacked and I didn’t understand what was happening. I kept reading the healing scriptures and I believed for the flashes and other medical symptoms to disappear – I wasn’t really focusing on the brain injury at that time as I was dealing with so many other things. One Sunday morning, at the end of the service there was an alter call for healing. I made the decision not to go to the alter as I was healed – after praying for several people at the alter, the pastor asked everyone to step back and he did another alter call - I can’t really remember what was said but I found myself at the alter and my entire body shaking. He laid hands on my head and instantly my body stopped shaking – not sure I really understood what was happening until I was driving home from church that day – Jesus opened my eyes to a deeper understanding of the scriptures I had been reading and meditating on – similar to what he did for the two disciples on the road to Emmaus three days after Jesus’ death – at that moment in the car I knew that I was healed of the brain injury – I knew that I knew that I knew – there wasn’t a doubt in my mind. There was no pain in my head that I lived with 24/7 for 13 ½ years.

Since then I’ve had an opportunity to see the MRI and CatScans of my brain and it is completely healthy – there is no sign that I ever had a brain injury. I am now able to read and spend time in the Bible for the first time in 13 ½ years. I even attend Bible college and I am able to sit in a classroom, pay attention for three hours and learn new information for the first time in a very long time – I can even remember what I learned in class. I can attend church and listen to music and have no pain in my head as loud music use to vibrate my head in the past.

For me, I had to change my mind and thinking – I had believed that the brain injury was a gift from God – my thinking wasn’t correct – I had never asked God to completely heal my brain or even believed it was possible – the doctors had convinced me that my brain was permanently damaged – so when I finally understood the scriptures and knew that I was healed my eyes and mind were opened to the awesomeness of God’s healing power. God has truly blessed my life and my healing journey has truly been truly an incredible journey.

I can’t imagine taking this journey with out God in my life. The pain, frustration and overwhelming experience of not knowing what was going on around me was at times too much to handle. But, I knew that God was with me and was preparing me for something. I was saved for a reason. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13. I currently mentor brain injury survivors and speak at engagements to help raise awareness as well as inspire other brain injury survivors and their families.

I pray if you are living with a brain injury or have someone that you love – you’ll be blessed and inspired by what I’ve learned and experienced.