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	<title>Brain Injury Center</title>
	<link>http://www.braininjurycenter.org</link>
	<description>of Venture County</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Thu, 02 Feb 2012 22:00:45 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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		<title>MY NAME IS LINDA WELLS, I AM A BRAIN INJURY SURVIVOR &amp; THIS IS MY STORY:</title>
		<description><![CDATA[18 YERES AGO MY HUBAND &#038; I WERE IN CATALINA ISLAND TO CELEBRAT NEW YERES EVE.  OF WICH I DID NOT MAKE IT ON DEC 30, 1993.  REX (MY HUBAND) &#038; MYSELF WERE RIDING IN A GOFL CART WITH 2 OTERS, WE WERE SITING IN THE BACK, GOING UP A STREET THE DRIVER DROVE GROVEY &#038; THREW ME OFF THE GOFL CART.  I ROLLED DOWN THE STRET HIT MY HEAD.
THE AMBULANCE CAME TOOK ME TO THE HOSPITAL IN CATALINA I HAD A BUMP ONMY HEAD, WAS UNCONSICUOS FOR JUST A LITTLE BIT.  THE DOCTOS SAID I HAD A CONCUSION.  TO TAKE ME TOOUR FRIENDS HOME WATCH ME.  WELL WITHIN 1 HUOR I CULD NOT TAKL, WAKL, MY RITE SIDE OF MY BODY WAS LIKE PARALIZED MY FACE DROOP DOWN.
MY HUBAND TOOK ME BACK TO THE E.R. THEY AIR VACTED ME OFF THE ISLAND TO LONG BEECH MEMORAL HOSPITAL.  THEY DID A CAT SCAN ONMY BRAIN.  I HAD A BLEED IN MY BRAIN THE SIZE OF A LEMON.
A OTHE DOCTOR TOLD MY FAMLY THAT I WOOD PROBALY NEVER BE ABEL TO PROCES INFORMATOIN TOLD TO ME THINK &#038; SPEEK TO RESPONE BACK.  MORE OR LESS LIKE A VEGABLE.  OH MY, HOW DID MY FAMLY DEEL WITHTHIS ONE.  ME I WAS NOT KNOWING ANTHIG.  THEY GAVE ME PAPER TO RITE TO COMUNIATE.  I WAS A RITE HAND PERSON, SO I TRIED MY LEFT.  THEY ASKE ME MY NAME.  I KNEW IN MY HEED I WAS LINDA BUT WIN I ROTE IT WOOD BE 1100222, NO I KNOW  THAT DOES NOT SAY “LINDA”.  I HAD A LONG LONG JURNEY AHEAD OF ME!!!
I HARD MY FIRST SEIZURE ONLY 1 OF 100’S TO COME, GRAND MAL, PETITE &#038; FOCAL.  THEY STARTED TERAPY RITE AWAY.  THEN I WAS MOVED ST. JOHNS REHAB IN OXARD, THEN SOLULUTIONS IN SANT A BARBAR THEN BACK TO ST. JOHNS.  THEN HOME!!!!!  I HAD 5 YERES OF THERAPE SPEECH, PHYSICAL.  IT WAS SO SO SO HARD…..I NEVER WANTED TOLOOSE MY HUSBAND, I WANTED TO BE THE BEST I CULD BE. I WORKED VERY HARD ALWAYS, LOTS OF CONFUSMENT, YUOR FRENDS LEVE YUO BECUZ YUO A R NOW NOT THE PERSON YUO ONCE WERE. 
 LAST JUNE MY HUBIN SUDENLY PASED AWAY &#038; NOW I AM ON MY OWN TRYING TO FIGURE MY WORLD WITHOUT ANY FAMILY LEVENG HERE.  I HAVE WONDERFUL FRIENDS THAT ARE SUPORTIVE.  
THE NEW WORLD IS HARD HARD HARD…..
I HAVE TRUBEL WITH NOESE, VISION, GRUOPS, NO MUSCI, CANT REED BOOKS, CANT DRIVE.  MY THINKS &#038; WORDS MAY NOT ALWAYS WORK OR MAKE CENTS.  SPELING OH THAT YUO CAN SEE IN THIS LETER---I DO MY BEST…..I LOST ABILATY OF MONEY, BUT I KNOW HOW TO GIVE A CREDIT CARD.  CONCENTRATON, COMPREHENDING WELL.  WE GO THRU 5 STEPS, DENIAL, SADNES, ANGER, BARGANING, &#038; FINALY ACCEPTANCE!! !
WELL I DO LIKE MY SELF MOST OF THE TIME !!! YUO MUST WORK HARD.  TRY TO STAY POSTIVE, &#038; YUO CAN DO MORE THAN THE DR’S TELL YUO CAN DO, I HAVE LEARNED MY NEW WORLD.  AS MY HUBIN REX WOOD SAY, 1 FOOT IN FRONT OF THE OTHER &#038; EVERTING WILL BE OK.
I DO LIKE BEING WITH MY BRAIN INJURY FRIENDS….THEY SO GET IT.]]></description>
		<link>http://www.braininjurycenter.org/2011/11/03/my-name-is-linda-wells-i-am-a-brain-injury-survivor-this-is-my-story/</link>
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		<title>Steve Spencer&#8217;s Story</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I collided w/ a tree in Camarillo, Ca. on Carmen Street in Dec. 09. They closed down both lanes of traffic for 3 hours because they could not get me out of the car. After awhile they brought the " Jaws of Life" and tore me out from my Nissan Pathfinder. This took three hours. I sometimes daydream how long three hours is. Truly a miracle I am alive. I layed there a bleeded out to 1 unit of blood. If you look at me I have no facial scars but as  w/ brain injuries the scars are not seen. They hide in the deep recesses of your head w/ sometimes outwardly signs of disfunction.

I arrived by ambulance for immediate surgery. Opened up like a fish, the incision was from my neck to just three inches below my navel. My lung was collapsed, every rib that composed the cage was broken, my spleen removed and the liver severed. Most all my blood was gone. The three doctors labored for 3-4 hrs. and then closed me up. I was in a coma for 2 weeks before my eyes opened. I could not remember a thing. A very, very frightening event to understand.

Under my armpit they inserted a tube in my lung to assist in my breathing as well as tubes inserted in my nose and mouth . There I lay 3 weeks in a coma and 2-3 more weeks to get better to start rehab.

Today, after 2 years, I am not well. Although, if you looked at me I could fool you, but if you stay w/ me for some time you will know something is wrong. I seem to repeat myself often because I forget what I had said. Very embarassing. I have good days and I have bad days. The doctor says I will develop seizures which I am not looking forward to. I often walk in circles and I have extreme memory loss. I pay bills electronically and often to the wrong payee. It just kills me when that happens. I just have to remember how lucky I am to be alive and able to drive. My Mother is legally blind and counts on me for much. I am glad that I can help her and she understands my injury. Very supportive and lots of love.  She provides me good medicine. I am dizzy at times and short breathed but that is OK. I pray each day to thank God that my accident was not more severe and that he got my attention.

I go to Ventura County Brain injury classes twice a month and it saved my life. I know I am not alone and there is love and help there for me. I find it that 90% of the injured people have the same impairment that I do. Memory loss, lost position, not fully aware of one's daily duties to complete, and the knowing that we are different souls. I am very grateful for what happened to me. I am not bitter because for how would I ever know the other side of the coin. They say, " God plants you where you are to bloom." This is true. I am on disability at 60 yrs. old and grateful that the govt. was finally convinced that I needed help. I hope you can understand that from one day to the next we are living in a world of the unknown. That one event can change your life forever. Be careful and stay safe.

Respectfully.
Steve Spencer]]></description>
		<link>http://www.braininjurycenter.org/2011/10/18/steve-spencers-story/</link>
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		<title>Tyler Sutton&#8217;s Story</title>
		<description><![CDATA[My name is Tyler Sutton and I am 39 years old. I have been a brain injury survivor since I was 22.

Like many young men of 22, I thought I was invincible. Things came to me pretty easy back then. I was #1 man on the varsity golf team in high school. After high school, I sold cars and made a lot of money for a 19 year old.

I had lots of girl friends and guy friends to hang out with. I was king of the world, or so I thought.

I got in the habit of making poor choices, but I wasn’t worried about it, because I had the rest of my life to get it figured out.

Then there was my accident 

I had partied hard one night and then into the morning. Having little sleep, I got on a motorcycle for a long trip and only 30 miles into it, I fell asleep to the hum of my engine.

I had a helmet on, but hitting the freeway going 65 miles on hour can really do some damage. I don’t remember the actual accident.

I was taken to the trauma center at Holy Cross Hospital. People I had never met tried desperately to save my life. I had brain surgery every day for 3 days.

I had a long rehabilitation and worked hard to get back to my old self, but that didn’t happen. I caused my family more pain than I will ever know.

Like some people with brain injury, I self-medicated with alcohol and drugs, and I was barely surviving

Then I found the Brain Injury Center and became a real survivor. I learned coping skills for my anger by attending the Center’s support meetings. And it helped me with cues, like writing things down so I can remember them.

Most of all, I found friends that have a positive influence in my life and people who understand about brain injury.

I also learned about AA and have found an amazing support system of brother.

I learned that we all have handicaps of one kind or another and I AM NOT ALONE.]]></description>
		<link>http://www.braininjurycenter.org/2011/10/13/tyler-suttons-story/</link>
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		<title>The ‘After’ Story</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The ‘After’ Story by Gina Bartiromo

The most poignant thing around my Half Dome story is to have been part of and to have experienced such profound human connection!! It was an astonishing web of people that took part in and were affected by this life-altering event. It significantly affected Rick, Kiley, my friends who were on that mountain, of course my whole family, Rick’s family and many others that I have learned played a role in this incident, some I have never met. 
One example of this is Rick’s nephew, Jason, 15 at the time, who was on his very first hike that day and was a witness to this frightening yet heartwarming trauma. My first question when I heard of this was “Did I ruin it for him? Will he ever go hiking again?” Rick’s wife, Diane, said no- he witnessed the power of helping another and was in his element: calm and ready to help. Diane shared with me that Jason’s response was “I was totally anxious to help out in any way I could.” Diane said “he gave his light jacket away to someone who was very cold. He was concerned for you and for his Uncle Rick, but never panicked, never afraid to do what he could to help. He is such a loving soul.”  
There were countless miracles and I would like to describe a few here: 
*The tiny 6 or 7 inch ledge stopped me from falling to my death.
*I wouldn’t have wanted to be in that situation on that mountain with any other person than Vanessa. She is certified in Wilderness First Aid and has taken several courses to train as a wilderness guide for long treks. I could not have been in better hands! (Vanessa and I came up with a new nickname for me: Tumble . LOVE it!)
*Rick and Kiley staying with me for 3hrs in the cold (and most likely hungry) was the most selfless thing that any human has ever done for me. I would have continued to shuttle down that mountain to my death otherwise (Kiley says I came-to 3 times on that ledge and they were able to calm me before I passed out again). After such a heroic act, they could have gone on with their lives never hearing of me again but Rick called the hospital and checked in with my friends consistently until he was able to speak with me personally. We began to build a friendship that continues to this day. I’ve met his wife and children and we stay in contact regularly.
*The sky “just opened up” for the Search and Rescue (SAR) helicopter on its last attempt to reach me and that the pilot descended at such an impossible angle to let out the rescue team (sparing me a more tragic outcome). 
*Tricia just happened to have an address book at the campground that contained my parents’ contact information that I’d given her some 10yrs before in grad school.
*I spoke of seeing my deceased brother at the end of my hospital bed and that he was with me on that mountain. Even with a swollen, bleeding brain and a fractured skull and jaw etc, I remembered and desperately tried to communicate that it was his memorial day within hours of my fall. 
And those are merely some of the miracles within that day!
It was a miracle that I had health insurance just 5 months before. I had been living abroad the previous 2 years and was unable to find professional work once I returned home so I took a temp job that hired me permanently in January 2009! My health insurance covered my twenty-some thousand dollar rescue flight off the mountain and the fifty-six thousand + dollar hospital stay for the first 8 days. We only had a $250 co pay for the entire one month stay to cover all 3 hospitals. The final hospital, Kaiser Vallejo, is a world-famous, state-of-the-art rehabilitation hospital. Miracle!!!!!!!!!! 
Puzzle pieces of the story were given to me by Vanessa, Tricia, Peter, Kiley, Rick, his children and extended family, the SAR team, the medical staff, my brothers, parents, extended family and my friends. I put the pieces together to create the vast portrayal of my hiking fall and the 2 weeks of my life that I cannot recall. I am lucky to have checked out during such a tumultuous time. As I said before, it was far worse for those around me. In hearing stories from the SAR team and those that were helping me during this incident, I realized how fortunate I was to have missed more serious damage or death. My gratitude for being alive has been the most overwhelming, superior emotion through this entire experience. 
There are so many comical stories from the hospital stay. I realize they were nowhere near comical at the time but I find them very humorous now. My brother, Paul, says that I would come-to from my coma, acting perplexed. They would tell me “you’re ok, Gina. You’re very injured and are in a hospital. We’re taking care of you. It’s ok” and then I would slip into unconsciousness again. I’d come-to several hours later with the same scenario. It was like the movie Groundhog Day! My poor family would have to tell me the same thing every time I came-to for almost 2 weeks! 
My mother stayed with me in a small hospital recliner over night, every night. My brother, John, knew she was a wreck and convinced her that he would stay with me one night so she could attempt to get a good sleep at the hotel. That was the night that I came-to in a fitful state (it’s common for the brain injured to act from the primitive brain) pulling out my IVs, feeding tube and catheter! My poor brother was terrified! From that point on, they had to restrain my arms while I was in this coma state. 
I was looking through some hospital notes recently and chuckled that just 12 days after my accident when the hospital staff roused me to check my cognitive condition, my hospital exam notes read: Chief Complaint = “I fell.” I chuckle every time I reread this! This again demonstrates how limited my brain was. I just wasn’t all there. 
My brother, Paul, has quite a sense of humor and keeps us all laughing. One day during the first few weeks of my return home, I was laughing at something he was sharing. We changed the subject and I took a gulp of water. Little did I know that what he would say next would again get me laughing! I was unable to swallow my gulp of water so I spewed it out all over the place! I was on a liquid diet and my esophagus was still challenged with swallowing… hilarious! 
Until recently, I’ve put 110% of my focus on healing. I was in a back brace for 3 ½ months so I couldn’t get in or out of bed (I woke every 2-3hrs to use the restroom due to my liquid diet!), shower, dress or reach shelves in cupboards or the refridgerator. Obviously, I could not drive so my Dad or brother drove me to my various appointments (spine, neurology, physical therapy, speech therapy, vision therapy, ophthalmology, dentist, head/neck specialist, orthopedist, chiropractor, x-rays, MRIs etc). With my left clavicle broken, I was in a sling and could only sleep on my back or propped with cushions along my side. I had vertigo for several months directly after a follow-up MRI. The vertigo was finally resolved by my Physical Therapist performing the Epley Maneuver. I did physical, speech and vision therapy daily. 
After such a life-changing event it is very common to experience depression. I had to let my apartment in Northern California go and move in with my parents to rehabilitate. (I am ever grateful to them for taking me in. But being a highly independent woman, this experience has brought lessons of acceptance, patience and trust.) When I first came home from the hospital, I was using a patch over one eye to stop the double vision. I was very distraught after my first visit to an Ophthalmologist who said the damage was most likely permanent. I was devastated but something in me knew to go for a second opinion despite others’ advice and I’m glad I did. That second doctor told me there was hope that it may heal. It was through a series of synchronicities that I came to learn about Vision Therapy and was connected with Agape Optometry in Thousand Oaks… and my vision continues to improve.   
Though I have dealt with some difficult times, I am grateful I’ve not had an extreme bout of depression and have remained proactive and driven to regain my health. I attribute my positive attitude first and foremost to my altered brain state. 
At first I had amnesia and could only remember those who were right in front of me. I couldn’t remember where I went to University or what I studied and I couldn’t remember where I worked or lived. It took a week or longer for my memory to bubble into my consciousness. (After the hospital when my memories were more available to me, I would often reminisce of my overseas travels to Australia, New Zealand and Thailand because they brought joy and comfort… they kept me afloat. I feel so grateful to have experienced such a full, fun, active life.) For a long while, I was perpetually in the present moment with blinders on for anything but the NOW, which in hindsight was my saving grace. It took several months but slowly I was able to think of what I was doing later that day, which then evolved to an ability to think about an appointment the next week and in time what was coming up in a month. It took quite a long time until I was able to wishful think regarding any future endeavors. 
I also need to credit the fact that I had been working on creating a more optimistic life perspective for years before my hiking fall. Along with other positive changes to transform a pessimistic temperament I learned from childhood, I had been writing a daily list of what I was grateful for in a Gratitude Journal. Despite life circumstances that were hard to cope with, this really helped shift my focus to the positive even on days when I had to force myself to think of things I was grateful for (“I’m so grateful for my lunch break, to have a bed to sleep in, that the sun came out today, I have a roof over my head” etc). I’m unsure of its author but a common quote I’ve heard is: what we put our attention on grows.
My efforts paid off because when life threw me a curve ball, my very first emotion was gratitude. When I came-to a few weeks after my hiking fall and heard the simple synopsis of what happened to me, I wasn’t at all able to understand its complexity or depth but I understood that the consequences of it were serious. I was overcome with gratitude that I was alive and safe. In the last year, my brain is more capable of comprehending what I went through as well as to recognize the enormity of the whole picture, from the accident through my rehabilitation to my current state. I am overjoyed that I still have full use of my body and that I was not severely brain damaged …because I could have been. Once I was able to get on the floor to do PT at home, I’d play mixed CDs 2 friends made for me with encouraging music and go through bouts of tears as I’d look at my legs or my arms so grateful they were still with me and able to work!  
Yet it is this current time – the place between my new awaiting life and the safe cocoon that has become my comfort amid the upheaval – that presents the challenge as I sit with the awareness of where I am now compared to where I was before my hiking fall. There is a line in the 2004 movie Motorcycle Diaries I completely relate to: “I’m not me anymore… at least I’m not the ‘me’ I was.” It is a bit scary to be in this in-between phase not knowing how my life will unfold from here. 
This entire experience has truly been like a rebirth: the infancy of being broken, battered, hospitalized; the toddler years of figuring out how my body moved and learning how to get around wearing the back brace; the youth of getting out of the back brace and using a cane; being a teen as my family took me to medical appointments, then being able to relearn to drive again and finally easing into driving at dusk, night or in the rain, and finally returning to driving my manual again ; now is like I've just graduated from High School and am looking out wondering what the world offers and where my place is in the world. Though I feel more myself now and am very driven to return to the big beautiful world, I need to remember not to forge forward too fast because I am still healing. 
I still deal with tingling and numbness 24/7 on my left side: face, neck, shoulder, hand, glute and foot probably due to damaged nerves. Intermittently, I feel an intense, icy cold tingling in my left calf and foot (most likely a carry over from the hypothermia). Though it has improved, my jaw isn’t lined up the way it used to be so my chewing is effected. I can only get flavor from the right one fourth of my mouth because in the rest of my mouth my taste buds are numb. I can’t put any pressure on my tail bone so I sit on a support cushion to keep my spine elongated. Occasionally, my gait is off and I misstep or stress my ankle. I used to be able to sleep 8-11 hours depending on how tired I was but now I wake after 5 or 6 hours with my body in a state of hunger-distress and/or needing to relieve my bladder. My collar bone hasn’t yet healed properly which requires me to be attentive in using my arm, shoulder and chest. My neck pulls out of alignment and seizes up every 5-6 weeks restricting movement which can keep me from driving for several days. There’s an odd reverberation that occurs in my left ear when in a grocery store, restaurant or other populated place. And, like I’ve shared, my vision in the left eye is still healing. 
I continue to put most of my focus into recovery. And I am extremely lucky that healing now involves things I love: yoga, self care (Vision Therapy, Physical Therapy, healthy eating), meditation, personal growth etc. This entire experience has been pretty self-absorbed  and I am lucky to have had the opportunity to put forth such efforts to heal. 
Though I fear stepping out of my safe cocoon and letting go of this precious introspective experience, I am fully aware of how much joy and confidence I gain when I am able to be of assistance, especially when I’m able to offer help in a way that is unique to me. My life is very different than it was. I’ve been forging new territory and it’s always frightening to face the unknown. Yet it now has come time to emerge from this sheltered cocoon of recovery and reintroduce myself to the world. 
I was awarded a partial scholarship for a yoga teacher training at Kripalu in Massachusetts, the 1st and largest yoga, health, education and retreat center in the United States. I earned my Yoga Instructor Certification March 18, 2011 a mere 21 months after such severe injuries. And I expect to certify in Chair Yoga by Fall 2011 through yet another VERY generous scholarship through Lakshmi Voelker Chair Yoga™. I hope to offer chair yoga to brain injury survivors, stroke victims, those rehabilitating from injury and others with restricted physical ability. And just one month shy of reaching the 2 year marker, I was just hired last week for a part time job.
I’ve yet to return to Yosemite’s Half Dome but I do not fear the mountain. I trust I will return if and when life lines up to do so. I do know that it will have to be a VERY sunny, warm day with not a cloud in the sky . Vanessa says that any time I would like to hike it again or even just get to its base, she will gladly accompany me. Rick goes there every year (which is how I got the 2010 photo with his foot showing the height of the ledge that stopped my fall). His wife, Diane, says that Half Dome remains all at once~ a place of looming challenge, a place of near disaster and a place that holds miracles. 
Many people have played a role in my recovery: the Brain Injury Center, medical professionals, spiritual teachers, an author and life coach, an energy worker and several yoga instructors… all benevolent souls that have made a large heart-centered contribution to my process of recovering. At the one year mark on June 6, 2010, I had a Gratitude Party in honor of all the people in my life that helped me heal in body, mind and spirit. Vanessa aptly named the Gratitude Party my “Gratitudiversary” ~ a word I plan to use to commemorate and honor June 6th for the rest of my life.
The miracles that have lined up since that significant day are uncountable and the immensity of this journey is beyond words. Gratitude continues to be the undercurrent of every moment of my life.
I am in awe.
]]></description>
		<link>http://www.braininjurycenter.org/2011/06/10/the-%e2%80%98after%e2%80%99-story/</link>
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		<title>Monthly Workshops</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Our workshops are presented by experts in their field and are free. The topic will change each month, but the main theme is “living with a brain injury”. Unless specifically stated, all workshops are open to brain injury survivors, families, caretakers and professionals. Please read the summary of each workshop for appropriate information
Preregistration:    Mandatory for  ... <a href="http://www.braininjurycenter.org/2010/08/23/monthly-worshops/">Read the whole article &#187;</a>]]></description>
		<link>http://www.braininjurycenter.org/2010/08/23/monthly-worshops/</link>
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		<title>Remembering to Remember</title>
		<description><![CDATA[A Research Paper by Jonathan Davies

I always have dreams during my dark hours.  What am I trying to remember?  When my dark hours end the light comes and pushes them away.  Sometimes the memories are hazy; sometimes the memories are vivid, surreal events I awake from full of fear and anxiety.  Although they are not the reality of the awake-world, they have one hell of an effect on the tales I tell and the ability to have my listeners believe them to be true.  Often my stories are so realistic even I can not determine between truth and fiction.  The dreams of my dark hours create memories, memories create beliefs; these beliefs affect how I react to people and events.]]></description>
		<link>http://www.braininjurycenter.org/2010/08/20/remembering-to-remember/</link>
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		<title>Brain Injury Center to Stage Free Monthly Public Educational Workshops</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Camarillo, CA  &#8212;  The Brain Injury Center of Ventura County will stage a series of free monthly workshops in Camarillo dedicated to different aspects of living with a brain injury.   The workshops are being conducted by BIC’s Professional Advisory Council for the benefit of brain injury survivors, their families, caretakers and  ... <a href="http://www.braininjurycenter.org/2010/08/20/brain-injury-center-to-stage-free-monthly-public-educational-workshops/">Read the whole article &#187;</a>]]></description>
		<link>http://www.braininjurycenter.org/2010/08/20/brain-injury-center-to-stage-free-monthly-public-educational-workshops/</link>
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		<title>Letter from a Soldier</title>
		<description><![CDATA[BECOMING A TBI WARRIOR
By: Victor Medina
vmedina@tbiwarrior.com
I am a three times veteran having served two tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan. I am a Purple Heart recipient. Throughout my deployment I have been in multiple enemy engagements, including bomb explosions. On June 29, 2009 at 9am I was on patrol in the city of Nazariyah,  ... <a href="http://www.braininjurycenter.org/2010/08/20/letter-from-a-soldier/">Read the whole article &#187;</a>]]></description>
		<link>http://www.braininjurycenter.org/2010/08/20/letter-from-a-soldier/</link>
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		<title>What I can remember by Lee Staniland</title>
		<description><![CDATA[It was June 11, 1978, in Somis, California, so I’ve been told. Because you see I have no memory of what happened that day.

I know that I had just gotten back from Arizona where I became the godparent to my young nephew. I had brought my mother back with me, and for Mother’s Day I had taken her to Solvang for the day. I also remember taking her to the Burbank Airport for her to go home. I remember all that very clearly, but the actual day of the accident, I remember nothing.]]></description>
		<link>http://www.braininjurycenter.org/2010/08/19/what-i-can-remember-by-lee-staniland-2/</link>
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		<title>Peter&#8217;s Music</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I was in fourth grade in 1958 (long, long ago!) when I first started with the clarinet.  I was so-so with the clarinet.  Then I changed to the oboe as a sophomore in high school (1964).  My class with the Oboe teacher was once every week.  When I was a junior and senior I was in the orchestra for the oboe and English horn, and band for the clarinet.  I was better at Oboe and clarinet.

Then I went to college at San Jose State in 1967.  I was a music major and physical science was my minor.  For music I played the oboe and English horn.  I was seven years at college – five ½ years as an undergraduate, and 1 ½ years in graduate school.  I was in the College Orchestra for six years and two years for Symphonic Band.  I played in the operas “The Barber of Seville,” “The Crucible,” and “The Marriage of Figaro.”   I played in the musicals “Carnival,” “Carousel,” and “Man of La Mancha.”  Outside we performed “Show Boat.”]]></description>
		<link>http://www.braininjurycenter.org/2010/08/19/peters-music/</link>
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