Brain Injury Association of Waterloo-Wellington

Brain Injury Association of Waterloo-Wellington
Fell off ladder at work
Read MoreMy mask represents a few of the struggles I’m dealing with.
The doors (one facing in and one facing out) tries to show that what you see on the outside isn’t the same inside.
I’m hoping that that over time, the caterpillar will turn into a beautiful butterfly.
I am sad and angry about my current situation and I try to put up a shield to protect myself.
Brain Injury Association of Waterloo-Wellington
High speed, head on car accident, did a complete roll over into a ditch. Resulted in a concussion and post-concussion syndrome.
Read MoreIf there is one word I would use to describe what it is like living with post-concussion syndrome on a day to day basis it is “frustration”. I look “fine”, “healthy”, “normal”. On the surface, I am no different than I was BC (before concussion). But sometimes life must go on, and what people can’t see is that behind my actions is a mild headache-I’ve learned to ignore. Mild headaches because they are pretty much a daily occurrence. People don’t notice me sitting in my car to let symptoms settle, instead of simply getting in and driving away.
The uncertainty of my future causes anxiety. If I think too far into the future I can’t plan, I get depressed thinking of my “10-year plan” on indefinite hold. I get depressed thinking I may never be “normal” again. Will I be able to return to work? Will I be able to clean an entire room in my house without a nap? Am I relying too much on my kids when I should be doing more for them?
I have to plan ahead. If it’s a therapy day, don’t plan anything big. The wonderful new LED lights are so bright they make me dizzy without sunglasses. I’ve cried at TV commercials without understanding why. But above all of this, above the surface, the world sees that I am “normal” and “healthy”.
Lucky to be alive. It’s bright and sunny and they don’t understand how difficult it can be to get out of bed and put one foot in front of the other.
Brain Injury Association of Waterloo-Wellington
Operation to Remove Brain Tumour
Read MoreFrontal lobe-red represents injury. Stroke occurred during surgery. It was shocking to me as I was well, happy, successful and close to retirement. It shook my confidence and joy.
I felt everyone was looking at my deficits. Struggled to improve physically and mentally.
My husband was a wonderful support and my family worked together to help me heal.
Brain Injury Association of Waterloo-Wellington
Frontal lobe brain injury as a result of a car accident
Read MoreThe top part of my mask is my world in pieces. The bottom part represents me recovering and putting my life back together.
There is a saying that it takes a village to raise a child, well, it also takes a village to recover from brain injury. I couldn’t have done it without the support of my family, friends and therapy team.
I also knew God was with me every step of the way.
After the accident one of my life mottos became: just because I have to do it differently, doesn’t mean I can’t do it.
Brain Injury Association of Waterloo-Wellington
Car injury
Read MoreIn the eyes through someone else
Brain Injury Association of Waterloo-Wellington
Physically beaten up
Read MoreThe aqua color that I picked was to match the tattoo on my right forearm. I chose it because it matched with the other color.
The elephant picture is because they are almost extinct and elephants protect their young and stay together for life. I picked the three stooges because they are funny, they make people laugh and I’m happy also, I love to laugh.
The devil and the angel came about at the day program that I go to. Staff would say I’m a little devil and I put my hands together and my halo and pretend, and it has stuck-Awesome!!
Brain Injury Association of Waterloo-Wellington
Travelling home from London, Ontario on 401 highway after a torrential rain. My car hydroplaned into a guardrail.
Read MoreI was diagnosed having 1/3 of my brain above average for someone my age, 1/3 average, and 1/3 damaged or below normal.
Thank you for the opportunity to express myself. Met some lovely people. We are not alone.
Brain Injury Association of Waterloo-Wellington
Shopping incident-large display item fell on my head
Read MoreBlack half represents daily pain I go through as well as all the physical struggles that have come since the injury.
Yellow half represents some of the things that continue to being me joy post-injury
Brain Injury Association of Waterloo-Wellington
Struck in head by “stow and go” seat in minivan. Seven months later rear ended in car.
Read MoreI feel different. I used to be vibrant, confident, energetic, colorful. I brought magic to my family’s world. Now I do not. I am like beige, colorless. Disconnected from my soul. I am not depressed.
I am just like a fairy with wet wings. Someday they will dry and I will fly again. Maybe just not as high.
Brain Injury Association of Waterloo-Wellington
Head on Collision-Accident
Read MoreMost days as I struggle to put the pieces of my life back together. I feel overwhelmed. I feel lost in a world where no one understands my struggle.
Some days are good but sooner or later I set back. I am a mish-mash of feelings. I’m grateful to have survived but some days I feel like the “walking wounded”.
Make up and fake smiles make me appear to be “normal” to those who expect or want that from me.
I miss the high energy I used to have. It makes me feel sad.
I too often feel overwhelmed!
Brain Injury Association of Waterloo-Wellington
MVA March 15, 1998, Back seat passenger
Read MoreIt has now been 20 years since my car accident. There have been many ups and downs. Today after many years of doctors, therapists, counselling, MRI’s etc…
I can now say I feel comfortable with this new version of Donna. My mask represents the area of my head on the left side where I still experience problems; the blue drops represent the tears; and the pink heart drops represent the joy and happiness.
A huge part of my recovery was to change my outlook, thinking and beliefs. The thought bubbles are the positive thinking I practice now.
The hearts on the cheek represent the love and support that I have now; and the feelings of gratitude.
Brain Injury Association of Waterloo-Wellington
Car Accident
Read MoreOne side is bright and full of hope and loving life, enjoying life, involved in everything I enjoy.
The other side is full of stress, hopelessness, forgetfulness, pain, the unknown. The black squiggly line is the shooting lightning bolt pains that I get very often on the left side.
I just want my life back.
Brain Injury Association of Waterloo-Wellington
MVA-Truck driver working for an international construction company negligently failed to secure his load. He was convicted, but I got the life sentence.
Read MoreBlue/Turquoise represents my “essence” even under the black “pie shape” which represents the accident and chronic head pain.
The dove represents my faith in God and the reminder of his love in my life.
Yellow wool represents “hope” in my long and winding journey through life and how “knitting preemie hats” as a volunteer gave me “renewed purpose” as I’m no longer “employable”. The “buzzing” sound in my foggy brain is calmed by knitting.
The butterfly represents the major change in my life. The flowers are the serendipity bits in both my “old” and new life that remind me to appreciate and be thankful for all the wonderful things God has blessed me with despite heartache and tragedy.
I put together a mask that oozed more “hope” and positivity than what apparently I was “unmasking”.
Brain Injury Association of Waterloo-Wellington
I was hit in the head with a rock, and left unconscious. I woke up a while later and walked home. A few months later I was in a car accident in which my head was hit very hard. I now have seizures and weakness due to the accident.
Read MoreWhen I get sick, it causes my whole right side to go weak.
At that time I cannot think or speak. That’s why the right side is painted grey. I am very sensitive to light and sound. It creates sadness because I am no longer able to function at these times. It can be very discouraging at times.
The other side is painted in bright colours because there is hope even in the midst of pain. There is joy in life, even though I can’t function like everyone else. Going through difficulties makes me thankful for the good times.
After a storm, comes the sun!
Brain Injury Association of Waterloo-Wellington
On December 22, 1989, I was in a car which went through a really bad car accident. I got a broken skull but managed to recover. My right eye got injured and has affected my eyesight.
Read MoreA cheerful mask full of creativity showing rainbows and peace amongst the human race.
Brain Injury Association of Waterloo-Wellington
Motor vehicle accident caused by a transport truck wheel running into my ex-wife and I.
Read MoreMy mask represents my happiness in life. Happy to have survived my car accident.
It also indicates my confusion, isolation, challenges, and difficulty in my daily life.
I feel eager to learn and get better every day for the rest of my life.
I hope that people in the world will try to understand the difficulty brain injured people suffer every day.
Brain Injury Association of Waterloo-Wellington
I had a stroke three and a half years ago.
Read MoreThe colors on the mask are red for “love”, yellow for “happy” and “hope”, and orange is for “eager”.
The red color starts at the bottom and goes to the lips because it shows that love is going up.
The yellow from the nose to the top of the eyes shows the feelings that I have inside.
The forehead is orange color because it represents my brain injury and that my goals and wishes are getting there, step by step.
Brain Injury Association of Waterloo-Wellington
Car Accident
Read MoreIt’s obvious.
It shows my exact feelings (mirror)-
Purple-Jumbled up Mind
Straight Face-Revenge from the world- (Unknown Feelings)
Brain Injury Association of Waterloo-Wellington
Car accident in 2012 with a garbage truck and was hit in the head with a chunk of truck.
Read MoreOn the left side is all the negative and feeling of not knowing who I am anymore. I used “Alice in Wonderland” because I can relate to her feelings of not knowing who she is and feeling insane. Like her I am realizing we are all mad in our own ways and the best kind of people usually are.
On the right is expressing my journey to self-love and acceptance. The rainbow means new hope and beginnings and I’m sick of being scared of my internal storm. So I decided to become the storm. So now I say “I have travelled through madness to find me”-Danny Alexander
Brain Injury Association of Waterloo-Wellington
Life threatening car accident on the first snow fall of the year driving a Beetle.
Read MoreHaving two separate personalities.
On the inside your mind is a complete mess. You can’t concentrate on anything and because of the brain damage you can’t remember what happened more than 5 minutes ago.
On the outside you look completely normal, as if there is nothing wrong!
Brings a VERY true meaning to “There’s more than meets the eye!”
NEVER judge someone by what you see! You just don’t know their story!
Brain Injury Association of Waterloo-Wellington
Car Accident
Read MoreSuperman”
“Hit the Road Jack”
Brain Injury Association of Waterloo-Wellington
Carbon Monoxide from chimney fire from wood stove and generator not vented properly.
Read More“Happy to be Alive!”
I have come a long way since I had my brain injury 7 years ago.
I accept who I am and what I have become. I cheerfully look forward to each day. I am open to new challenges.
My ‘bucket list’ is prepared for much enjoyment in the future. I am helpful when needed by other clients. I always greet people with a smile as I love to see their eyes light up and smile back at me. I like being a humorous individual as “laughter is the best medicine”.
It makes for a bright future knowing that I can make someone’s day just a little happier and be glad to be alive just like myself-THE END!
Brain Injury Association of Waterloo-Wellington
Car accident- T-boned January 31, 2013
Read MorePortrays 3 selves: Pre-accident, accident and coping, my new identity.
Brain Injury Association of Waterloo-Wellington
I fell from about 20 feet
Read MoreThe tears would represent depression, and the colors and shapes scattered around would represent distractions for everyone looking at it.
Brain Injury Association of Waterloo-Wellington
Read MoreThe sun shines down on everyone and gives life.
The mask looks up to the sun because growth and positivity is always possible.
Brain Injury Association of Waterloo-Wellington
Shunt broke
Read MorePurple and pink are my favourite.
Purple is dark so it’s me since my brain injury. I have become somebody I don’t like at times when I can’t remember stuff.
Pink represents who I was before because I was a lot happier. Frustration is what makes me upset a lot of the time because of the memory issue.
Brain Injury Association of Waterloo-Wellington
Motor Vehicle Accident March 31, 2015, multiple concussions, PTSD, severe depression, anxiety, cognitive, imbalance issues
Read More“Pre & Post Accident” Left side (colorful) Right (blue)
As a Chartered Professional Accountant, I was a very cheerful, energetic, positive, powerful individual. This is shown by the colorful, bright mask representing pre-accident. Words are not necessary to describe pre-accident as the left side is full of great expressions.
Post-accident, the blue side of the mask requires words to describe the “new” me, as I look the same as before however emotionally opposite! Blue paint explains the feeling of being sad.
Although I may look the same, I’m completely different on the inside. I am no longer the person I used to be and need to work on accepting the new “me”. Hopefully one day I will be able to regain the more pleasant attitude and emotions I once had.
Best part of this brain injury I sustained is meeting friends alike and sharing stories of recovery.
Brain Injury Association of Waterloo-Wellington
Car accident
Read MoreThrough the three years now of dealing with this life altering accident, I have learned with much practice, how to help myself to look differently at this incident.
I have found that a positive twist on a negative thought has been very beneficial. Being mindful and purposeful is the gift.
Each day is amazing and something good will always be found.
Being present minded and in my moment is starting to make sense.
Brain Injury Association of Waterloo-Wellington
A sequalae of minor (non-catastrophic) impacts to my head and neck that occurred with 8 MVAs between 1983 and 2007 and then a workplace injury where a basketball struck me during my supervision of our grade 8 gym class in April 2016. Since 2016 I have sustained 2 more accidental impacts with open doors in December 2017 and them May 2018. My diagnosis is Post- Concussion Syndrome with Anxiety and Depression.
Read MoreI have endeavoured to develop each side differently to reflect the duality of my thoughts, feelings, and experiences in my changed and changing life.
The “busyness” of my mask or the clutter shows how very full my mind feels always! I move in and out of both positive and negative experiences rapidly.
The gray side of the mask reflects struggles and challenges while the pink side is my experience of joy, hope and gratitude.
The lace gag delicately binds my mouth as I struggle sometimes with filtering what occurs in my mind- the realm of emotions/feelings/thoughts and understanding and expressing them.
Brain Injury Association of Waterloo-Wellington
Slipped/tripped/fell (?) up the exterior stairs of my home with loads of groceries and school bags. When I lost my balance I hit the left side of my head against the metal frame of the door.
Read MoreBE STILL AND KNOW…
I am White – draws a blank, empty, confused flesh. Slowly finding myself again.
Target/bullseye – pain and headache radiating to other parts of my head & body.
Eyes – not working together, dizzy, no peripheral vision, difficult to focus
3 battery packs – depleted energy, focus, needing to take time to recharge
Dribbling letters – struggling with slurred speech, word retrieval, processing communications
Words DIFFERENT, LONELY, CHALLENGED – I will never be like I was before. Grieving my losses
Words KIND, DETERMINED, GRACIOUS – Things I have learned to become grateful for
Brain Injury Association of Waterloo-Wellington
On the cold dark night of January 11, 1999 a car crash was responsible for the traumatic brain injury that imprisoned me in a coma for the next 3 months. Reviving near Easter 1999, seemed appropriate; Easter is the coming of new life. 20 years later the effects of such a catastrophe are met, and endured daily. Every day is a challenge, but life is a series of challenges to help each of us grow. Over the time spent incarcerated by disability this life has learned to love, trust, and be totally positive; that lets me be unmasked.
Read MorePainting the mask, wearing the mask, living the mask. Head injury is so similar to choosing to hide; to shelter oneself from the chaos of comparison. To find security by being withdrawn from the society that at one time; was perhaps comfortable. In the present, a mask might show the assumed strength and security a survivor of brain injury looks to assimilate with.
However, this mentality may be flawed? A survivor need not hide their face behind a mask; their experience and trauma need to be shared and heard. If these replicas of traumatic experiences could speak, each one would simply say “please listen to me”. But we need to also remember “we cannot start living the next chapter of our lives if we continuously reread, reiterate the old one continuously.
Life is a gift. We are all meant to live the present”.
Brain Injury Association of Waterloo-Wellington
Car accident-rear ended 2014
Read More“My Mind”
‘twas an early autumn morn
the mist arising from the harbour
sitting on the balcony, staring out
there is a sailboat in the bay
bobbing listlessly, the wind a mere flutter
no motor, unable to move out to sea
without warning, I am that sailboat
Brain Injury Association of Waterloo-Wellington
Car accident 2014
Read MoreThere is always darkness before the light;
However the darkness still overwhelms
Happiness hides behind shades
And the shades dull the lights
There is still much to discover
Under the darkness
Emotions are endless and volatile
Waiting for the light to heal
Until then it is a roller coaster
Filled with forms, charts & data.
Brain Injury Association of Waterloo-Wellington
Car accident-rear ended 2014
Read MoreI’ve cried so many tears, I can’t cry anymore.
Colours represent the three shades of my headaches:
Beige: Tolerable
Red: uncomfortable
Blue: Intolerable
Colours also represent the shift in pain and the emotions that shift with the pain.
The two halves represent what we think we see versus what cannot be seen but must be felt.
Brain Injury Association of Waterloo-Wellington
Lack of Oxygen
Read MoreThe colors green and purple are my favorite colors, and the purple is my birthstone color. The feathers represent freedom like a bird. I picked the word confused because I enjoy confusing people at times.
Apparently, people say I’m joyful and happy and that makes me happy.
Sometimes it embarrasses me when I go places and my disability makes me unique in my own way.
Brain Injury Association of Waterloo-Wellington
1st was a car accident, 2nd a bus accident, then, last year, I banged my head off the frame of a van and sustained a concussion. The last has been the hardest to deal with as it has altered so much of how my brain works.
Read MoreThere is a side to brain injury that is invisible and on the surface I appear fine to everyone. The right side of my mask shows this. The tear is there to show the frustration and sadness that occurs when trying to explain difficulties to others or even in asking for help and it always coming across wrong BECAUSE of how I appear on the surface.
When things happen in life that throw me off or is difficult in the moment to process or make a decision, unfortunately it often comes off as behavioural issues, anger, or attitude when really it’s mostly confusion & clutter and not being able to put my thoughts together or in the right order. Inside there is a lot of turmoil and frustration and being overwhelmed with things. That is what the murky side of my mask shows although the bird on the branch shows I have not given up.
The middle part of my mask shows the imperfections (NOT the nice smooth skin coloured surface from the right) , that there is hope with acceptance (the butterfly), there is new life, and there ARE good and positive things that have happened as a result of my brain injury. I feel like I have become a better person. I am able to put myself in other people’s shoes and be more understanding.
I have also learned to be very self-aware. Once one can truly accept who they are and let go of the past, they can begin the journey to learning new things and begin to find new hope and happiness.
Brain Injury Association of Waterloo-Wellington
Car Accident (Concussion, 2016), & 2nd accident (Whiplash, 2018)
Read MoreA brain injury to me is temporary and though it takes a while to make steps towards who and what I once felt and looked like inside-It’s never too late to be brave and try.
I was once confused but now I am getting more creative to be the person I was before the accident.
Some days are exhausting but I remain focused and less frightened and frustrated.
I have found help and am less helpless and more hopeful. I love life and helping others and get my inspiration and peace from God. Thanks God.
I was relieved to attend tonight and enjoyed everyone. What a terrific idea for masks so we can show before and after and have fun creating a future of safety and being whole.
I am alive, have faith, hope, and love and am HAPPY (a whole person again!).
I love flowers. They separate pain from my new life today!
Brain Injury Association of Waterloo-Wellington
Korsakoff Syndrome
Read MoreBlue is a relaxing color and makes a good background for other colors.
The Joker is symbolic of the card games I play with my peers at the Opportunity Centre and the laughs and good times we have.
I love to curl and belong to several leagues. I am a star.
I am a very positive person.
Brain Injury Association of Waterloo-Wellington
Someone pushed and tripped me in an ultimate Frisbee game.
Read MoreMy mask shows the battle between being positive and hopeful, and loss and despair.
The black thorny roses represent sharp pain that threatens to take over my brain.
The other flowers represent hope which are slowly but surely taking back my brain.
My lips are painted black as sometimes I don’t recognize the words coming out of my mouth: I’m a different person.
I struggle to get back to the person I was before the accident, but I have learned to accept myself.
Brain Injury Association of Waterloo-Wellington
Car accident
Read MoreThis mask represents the spectrum of emotion and ability following brain injury. It describes coming from the black, and moving more and more into the light.
There are setbacks and I may temporarily move backwards but since my accident.
I have “generally” moved towards the light.
Brain Injury Association of Waterloo-Wellington
Car Accident
Read MoreThe mask describes the many illusions of brain injury:
Brain Injury Association of Waterloo-Wellington
Car accident
Read MoreBefore my accident I loved life, my job.
Now I have lost it all.
My before and after worlds need to coexist. I am now fitting the pieces from 5 different puzzles into a single puzzle.
The ones I am not able to fit will find their own place one day.