My New Life

By Memory McAdams

My name is Memory McAdams. I suffered my head-injury in June of 1989, when I was 19 years old and a student at San Diego State.  I was driving along the Pacific Coast Highway, traveling home to Santa Barbara. Then suddenly a man traveling the opposite direction had a stroke, crossed over the double yellow lines and hit me head-on.

 I was knocked into a coma that lasted for 6 months and the doctors were afraid I would never wake up. But, luckily, I did.    

When I finally woke up, I had to relearn everything:  how to walk, talk and all of the every day functions for my life.

              A few years ago, I moved to Ventura County.  As I adjusted to my new life here, I joined the Brain Injury Center.  I have made many new friends, participated in special events and learned many new things.  One of the highlights of my week is coming to our Wednesday meetings. 

              Over the past 20 years I’ve made a lot of progress. I’ve made new friends and re-learned how to live like an adult in our society.  I attend classes every term at Ventura College.

              I once asked my brain-injury doctor how long it would be until I was normal again.   He told me that my brain injury would be with me for the rest of my life.   So I have to live with that, do the best I can and try to keep moving forward.

              One thing that I have learned is that winners never quit and that quitters never win.