Brain Injury Association Peterborough Region

Explanation of Mask

“Invisible and Forgotten”

Please don’t forget us! We are wives, girlfriends, significant others, sisters, grandmothers, aunts, friends, co-workers and former co-workers.

Explanation of Mask

I wonder what life would have been life if the accident didn’t happen. I was in my first year of high school when I got in to the car accident with my brother-in-law and a friend who died. The black on the mask represents my blurred vision. I keep positive and always keep myself busy. Behind every cloud there is a silver lining.

Explanation of Mask

“The Texture of my Pain”

I was training to be a nurse when I got sick. The more experienced nurses told me that pain was the most important symptom. Every day, twice a day, the nurses came in and asked me “How’s your pain?” I was in survival mode. I couldn’t see properly. Everything was too bright. I didn’t want to be the complaining patient my words were gone. So I folded my legs, closed by eyes and tried not to cry. Ride it out.

Explanation of Mask

“Embarrassed Pain”

Equivalent exchange for everything lost there is always something gained. Balance of good and evil. That is in everything. Our lives based on the choices we make. “You chose and made your life path, no one else.”

Explanation of Mask

Fallout on left and right hemispheres while holding onto balance of opening third eye. The growth and refined dragon whiskers learned from the struggle/balance forged in fire and softened from newly acquired remedies.

• Right hemisphere: Fallout from miracle pills still reigning/raining over cerebral processes
• Left hemisphere: tightly woven neural patters hard woven from life’s challenges and life’s pursuit of knowledge
• Third eye: Opening to functions, organs and systems; aliffiameter radiating light on truth; exposing falsities and lies.

Explanation of Mask

The compass is me not knowing what direction I will be going from here. I am suffering from tinnitus. I have a treasure of friends, doctors, and professionals who help me. I see sunshine every day. Some days are not so smooth (a little rough). I have forgotten many things. I see beautiful things and people all around me. I take pictures with my cell phone. I am a person of strong faith. It gives me strength. I CAN walk. I have to do retraining to get my licence back. The road signs are like my life; stopping, yielding (changing directions), and go. I wear the necklace, because it is like a smile saying I am okay. I am a happy person and I am at peace.

Explanation of Mask

The colouring in the mask: The dull grey at the brain level reflects the unclear focus that I can experience. The black lines that go through reflect the negative impact that the brain injury had on my sports. I played many but softball and hockey are what I was known for. The crew represents the spiking, stabbing pain that I experience sometimes. The cloudy eyes indicate the days that are unfocused as well as the times when I am unable to see a bright future. The rays that are yellow represent that this is changing and things are slowly getting better.

The gradual change in colour from grey to green represents the new me, a new life, and hope.

Explanation of Mask

The ball at the left eye signifies the hit “Check it!” The Honda symbol represents my injuries with my car. The hammer represents the mallet I used in bashing my head out of frustration. The words behind my eyes represent my feelings/emotions. my forehead has two Bento Boxes. The one at my left eye is my “old life” and it was smashed by my accidents. My “new life” Bento Box has much of my time filled with various appointments. The list of hospitals signifies where I went for concussion/brain injury support. The words on the right side lists where I was injured (locations). The stitches on the mouth show how I now feel about my injuries. I cannot discus them, it’s old news. I care but nobody else seems to. I am afraid to go our and fall again, that’s why the pale complexion.

Explanation of Mask

“My Eyes are Closed” – The colour for Epilepsy is Lavender, my eyes are closed because I can’t see when I have a seizure and with my seizures I have no sense of smell, or taste. The dates are significant to my life and the impact that it has had. The symbols are positive and negatives feelings.

Explanation of Mask

Outside is quite different from feeling inside! We’re lucky to be here today and the road behind learning to walk and talk again. Now quite a few of the routines that we perform every day have been learned for a second time.

Explanation of Mask

I really like colour and being colourful. These are the people on my team who really helped me and I am very grateful, especially my Occupational Therapist. I also wanted to show my love of socializing by putting people holding hand together. Each of the four faces is different, happy, sexy, sad and crying. They represent the different emotions I have felt as I recover. I have learned so much in my recovery and I will continue to learn.

Explanation of Mask

Express daily life living things and positive future.

Explanation of Mask

The mask shows how all of our experiences are woven together, how everything is connected in ways we don’t even realize.

Each solid colour has a meaning: Red for anger, Orange or courage and confidence, Yellow for energy, Green for new beginnings, Blue for peace, Purple for moodiness, Pink for play and Turquoise for healing.

The butterfly is a symbol of metamorphosis, becoming; does the caterpillar know what it will become? Does it simply accept that it will change and allow it to happen? Or does it decide what it wants to be and work toward it? Maybe we’ll never know. The butterfly wing represents possibility, change and growth.

The small squares, which begin in an orderly manner and gradually drift into disarray, are a reminder that no matter how hard we fight, entropy happens. We can either fight or spend all our energy trying to constantly re-order everything, or we can simply embrace the beauty in disorder and find new ways to see things. This new vision is shown by the fabric behind the right eye.

Explanation of Mask

My mask shows the two faces/lives I feel pulling at me.

1. The old me who is happy with a red heart, however, the darkness surrounds me.
2. The scar from my surgery and my somber expression, with red to show the light I have found within.

Explanation of Mask

To show the steps of my recovery in which may never end.

• ORANGE: First step of recovery – felt annoyed, hurt, and I was determined to get better.
• GREEN: Irritated, inadequate, and was very eager to get better.
• YELLOW: I felt passionate, tender, and hopeful.
• WHITE: Where I am sort of now. I’m quiet, warm, and wise.

Explanation of Mask

Confusion, loneliness, and cheerfulness are how my brain injury makes me feel. I do not remember about my past before my injury.

Explanation of Mask

This mask shows a lot of different aspects of my life. We will make this a short but sweet story. My injury saved my life. Due to my lifestyle an choices, they were leading me to a life that would have ended in a negative way. Since my injury, I have had many more positive occasions in my life for the last 24 years.

Explanation of Mask

The screws depict the daily headaches I have. Key pain points include my temples. My eyes are sunken in to depict what it feels like to have everything feel so big. Whether it is sounds, sights/lights or just a simple daily task, I feel so in my head and everything around me feels magnified.

The exposed brain depicts not only the main area of my injury, the pre-frontal cortex, it represents my feelings of being exposed in so many ways but specifically, emotionally. Due to the location of my injury, I feel emotionally charged and unable to hide or regulate my feelings. It has been a struggle to feel any kind of normal since my injury.

Explanation of Mask

Let’s start with the rainbow, that explains how generally happy I am. I work well with a schedule. On No, here’s a storm; it could be as simple as two appointments on the same day. It could be bad news, a phone call. One simple “life” task can put me right over the edge. The symbols represent how sometimes I’m just scatterbrained. The colour black represents that I need simple instruction because most stuff goes over my head. Overall it’s a hard thing to live with, my goal is life coping skills and to MASTER it.

Explanation of Mask

Purple for Epilepsy Awareness. Lightning bolts are seizures. The buttons and green pipe cleaners are the Deep Brain Stimulator and wires. The grey block on each side of my mask are the metal plates on my skull to protect my brain. The blue lips represent my lack of oxygen during certain seizures. The green on one cheek is a bruise I got during a seizure. The blood shot eyes are a side effect of my meds.

Explanation of Mask

I chose the rainbow because I’m always searching for my pot of gold. I just want to be happy.

Explanation of Mask

Protection of head – farming is a very dangerous career. People should appreciate farmers for what they do for the rest of humanity. Be more courteous to farmers because they work hard for everyone. Be more observant to motorcycles. Don’t take short cuts. Avoid putting oneself in dangerous situations. Look for escape routes. Plan for a situation to go bad. Try to avoid putting yourself in harm’s way. Injuries cost everyone lost time and financial pain.

Explanation of Mask

The spot approximately where it burst. The worst pain of my life. The shunt that is now in place for life. The tube to the shunt and to the other part that goes down to my stomach now. But as times goes on, the further away from the aneurysm you get, the better my life is becoming. I have my licence back and will get back to riding a Harley, but with a bit of caution as the road is slippery now.

Explanation of Mask

My mask is a visual interpretation of the thoughts and feelings as I reflected back on the brain injury that I had when I was in second grade, and how it changed my life. It is a testament of my journey to self-healing and the conditions brought about because of it and of who I am, my mask puts into images the feelings and emotions and thoughts of what I cannot express in words.

On the right side you see the image of a jail cell door with a key lock, my years after the injury was one of having to deal with relearning everything, not having access of my past and being sort of like a stranger, I had lost all of my past memory of everything that had happened in my life before the injury. I had a clean slate, no way to remember any of what had gone on before I woke up from a concussion and had no past, just the now. I was functional be I felt from another planet, school was difficult, I could not grasp basic concepts easily, my emotions were foreign to me a sort of non-reactive clarity had come between them and me.

The left side of the mask is a shape somewhat like a person in profile. People were strangers, there was no familiarity, my family even they were strangers. I accepted that they were my family and went on from there. The top part of the mask is the way I have been able to cope with the life I lead after in injury, feeling being alone in the world I discovered my imagination and found comfort in nature. I became a visual person and I began to draw. I did have some times of depression but mostly I could see the light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak.

On the right side of the mask is an icon image of a skull. It’s not a threatening skull, it represents the death that we all have to face, the losses we have to suffer and the truth that it is all part of life, and the preciousness of life as a process, an energy that we are a part of.

Explanation of Mask

Since the beginning of my journey with the ABI’s, I have endured countless trials and tribulations. I still maintain that “every day is a new beginning.”

• COLOUR (represents the brain): at one point represented by PTSD and challenges that followed. It now exemplifies change, dance, movement, courage, learning, faith, strength, creativity, patience, tenacity, resilience, peace, health, socializing, dreams, joy, laughter, family harmony, friendships, learning, growth, the past, the present, and the future.
• TRUNK (represents the brain stem): symbolizes strength, balance, and the core of people who facilitated the Renaissance of Me. To my amazing daughters, friends/family, doctors, nurses, therapists and case workers, I humbly thank you all.
• ROOTS denotes who I am with the determination I have to evolve and to withstand my greatest challenges in life as I know it now.

Explanation of Mask

The puzzle pieces, with missing ones, represent my brain. I have a number of lesions on my brain. I’ve had part of my hippocampus removed and I had a brain infection from one of two brain surgeries. There are missing parts in my memory, my personality, my cognition, etc. The rainbow on my face represents the hope, the joy, and the love of God that I have been given as a result of my brain injuries.

Explanation of Mask

• Red = Anger
• Purple – Confusion
• Hole = Damage/Pain

Explanation of Mask

This mask represents joy and happiness. I chose a calm, relaxing colour.

Explanation of Mask

When I had my brain injury, they took out a piece of my brain. After that I was very angry a lot of the time. The eyes on my mask show how tired I feel. Now I am happy and positive more than angry.

Explanation of Mask

I stalled the fishing on the orange side because I plan to get up and go out fishing this year. I feel grateful to be alive. When I work my program without getting upset, I have good days. My 12 step program is similar to the AA program but I use it as an everyday living strategy. I get frustrated quicker than I used to but I am hoping to stay in my program because it helps me get through each day.

Explanation of Mask

My mask is very dark and metal looking because ever since that rugby game, my days have been darker, as well as how heavy my head feels sometimes. I just want to smash it to put things back in place, as irrational as it sounds. The broken mirror contributes to feeling life I have a piece of glass shoved in my skull, but mainly to visualize the lost sense of self I have experienced. I am not the same person I was before that game. The black tears portray a little of how emotionally traumatizing it’s been.

The crews are to show pain but also go along with the dysfunctional metal head. The mouth is hard to explain. It goes along with not knowing who I am anymore but there’s more to it. Everything is censored and I find myself trying to explain how it is I feel or what exactly is wrong but I can’t find the words to let someone else know what it is I am gong through, and I choke.

Explanation of Mask

I wanted to show how it is to exist in a world where everyone sees me as totally normal and has high expectations of me. Inside I always feel “less than,” confused, no filter, cognitive issues, memory issues, pain, etc. Always putting a happy face on and pushing forward; trying everyday to get back to, well, I have no idea where or what I am trying to prove actually.

Explanation of Mask

I was 16 when I had my first seizure and started battling depression. The eyes represent the day-to-day difference trying to cope with these problems. While trying to keep my sanity through these challenges, the hope and support I received from family and friends has kept me pushing forward. Though life has felt very much like a roller coaster, the fight has cultivated an inner strength. That strength along with a positive attitude I hope will restore harmony to the chaos.