FAIR – supporting auto accident victims through advocacy and education
FAIR – supporting auto accident victims through advocacy and education
FAIR – supporting auto accident victims through advocacy and education
‘FAIR – supporting auto accident victims through advocacy and education’
Most people live their lives not giving a thought about what they have accomplished. We plug along with day to day events or situations.
UNTIL …. Life stops the way you’re use to! Your abilities change, for example…..physical movement, memory, concentration, motivation, determination, planning (even hourly), mood/behaviour, you change. This can happen with a motor vehicle accident, or blows to the head, or a fall, to name a few.
After my car accident, the first 6 months involved three different hospitals, for intensive rehabilation. When my glascow scale reached 8 out of 15, I was discharged and then able to go home from the hospital to the care of my brother Mike. He gave me 24 hour care for the next 6 months. He was my rock. He rode the roller coaster of recovery with me!
After the accident I had to relearn many things people take for granted. Learning the skills of sitting up in bed or chair unsupported, being in a wheelchair for mobility, using a walker to re learn how to walk, learning how to use the cane for stability were uphill challenges for me. The basic skills of eating, drinking and thinking all had to be relearned. I was a 40 year old woman with the functions of a toddler.
When this unfortunate experience occurs, we are required to work harder, mind & body, than we ever have before just to try and “regain” our abilities. I looked at my head injury in the beginning, with disbelief, anger, and resentment. I couldn’t believe that this had happened to me.
Through a lot of support from family, friends, and therapists, I was guided in how I could move forward. Do I miss my abilities I no longer have? ABSOLUTELY YES! But, I like me and I’m grateful for what I have. My positive thought has always been, IT COULD HAVE BEEN WORSE!
I’m trying to share what worked for me with the hope that the ideas, might work or help you.
I took my experience as an opportunity to revise me. Through working with and through my deficits, I also learned how to adapt, so I could LIVE.
I’ve come a long way since that day in 2008. Today I am the Vice-Chair of FAIR Association of Victims for Accident Insurance Reform. Now I find myself fighting for other MVA victims so they too can have access to the resources they so desperately need for recovery.
__________________
__________________
Human books share their stories Tammy Kirkwood, who incurred an acquired brain injury after she was involved in a horrific car accident four years ago, chats with Miss Petite Simcoe County Jessica Katie Foster during the Get a Life Festival at the Orillia Public Library Saturday. Both Kirkwood and Foster volunteered to share their stories as human books.
___________________
Hundreds rally against cuts to auto insurance benefits TORONTO – Changes to auto insurance benefits for motor vehicle accident victims passed in the Ontario legislature Wednesday as part of the provincial budget.“God help us all,” Tammy Kirkwood said upon hearing the news. “We’re getting a lot less coverage for a lot more money and I’m not sure why.” Kirkwood was one of hundreds of protesters at Queen’s Park rallying against reductions in auto insurance benefits which they say will have the most effect on victims with catastrophic injuries. The 47-year-old Orillia woman said protesters were “flabbergasted” that the provincial government “was trying to disable our resources and our funding to recover.”
___________________
Orillia woman involved in serious collision slams province’s planned changes to insurance industry An Orillia woman who was in a car crash seven years ago that left her in a coma worries changes to the auto-insurance industry will have devastating effects. Tammy Kirkwood said the province’s plan to reduce auto-insurance benefits that was passed as part of the budget earlier this year will severely hurt crash victims requiring extensive care.
____________________________________________________________
The Brain’s Way of Healing is about neuroplasticity’s next step — healing the brain using totally non-invasive methods, including patterns of energy to resynchronize the brain’s neurons when illness or injury causes them to fire improperly. It’s revolutionary and in some instances shocking — we’ll see people’s lifelong afflictions improved, or, in some cases cured almost miraculously. But these are not miracles, and Dr. Doidge explains the science behind these improvements. http://www.cbc.ca/natureofthings/episodes/the-brains-way-of-healing
FIVE INCREDIBLE NEW WAYS TO HELP THE BRAIN HEAL ITSELF http://www.cbc.ca/natureofthings/features/five-incredible-new-ways-to-help-the-brain-heal-itself
Is brain injury making you cranky & irritable? Is your ability to cope with sensory stimulation non-existant? This video will explain why and also tell you what to do about it! The TBI Coach explains the lack of sensory filters and sensory integration issues for people with concussion and Traumatic Brain Injury and ways to relax the brain so it can function better.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
In 2013, Dr. Chandran and his associates were able to extract stem cells from the bone marrow of patients with Multiple Sclerosis, use these stem cells to grow myelin cells – damage of myelin cells is associated with diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis (MS) – and then inject these cultured myelin cells back into the patient’s veins. To measure whether the intervention was successful, the scientists examined the optic nerve. The size of the optic nerve was measured before the injection of the lab grown myelin cells, three and six months post injection (patients with MS usually have vision problems).
“For cancer you can remove the tumour, and we can grow these cancer cells in a dish. If you find a small molecule that stops uncontrolled proliferation of these cells, you have a potential drug for cancer,” said Pasca. “In contrast with that, we don’t have direct access to brain cells, you can’t do a brain biopsy. Therefore, in studying mental disorders, we look at postmortem brains. That’s a problem for me as a neuroscientist because these neurons can’t fire,” he said.
Many would assume that gender equity in health has been achieved. But in subtle ways, medical research has a male bias that can leave women behind. Take my area of research as an example: traumatic brain injuries. Huge advances have been made in this field over the last few decades. We now know that for some, even seemingly minor hits to the head can have long-lasting effects, and we recognize the importance of proper recovery and rehabilitation. But we don’t fully know the differences of how women and men experience brain injury, and that has consequences for how women are diagnosed and treated.
Researchers from St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto used advanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) to examine the brains of 43 male and female university athletes — 21 with a history of concussion and 22 without.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/