Friday, March 1, 2019

Welcome March - Brain Injury Awareness Month!

March is pretty special in our household, not only because the spring equinox falls on Wednesday, March 20, 2019, at 5:58 P.M. EDT, marking the astronomical first day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, but it's also a month of birthdays (mine, my brothers-in-law, and my mom-in-law).

it also reminds me of how thankful we are to still count my niece Jenn among the living. during Brain Injury Awareness Month I'm mentally taken back to the hospitals where she spent so much time recovering from an auto accident resulting from her texting and crossing the median on southbound 127. she'd been returning home from picking up her eldest son from her mom-in-law where he'd spent some vacation time. thankfully she was close by Sparrow Hospital, where she and her eldest son received care quickly (if it weren't for a friend offering to babysit her infant at the last minute, he'd have been in the car seat in the seat that was accordion smashed halfway into her car and I've no doubt he would have died); the car was crushed to the middle, right up to her and her son. they both suffered traumatic brain injuries along with other injuries and continue treatment to this day. she's an amazing young woman and very determined, evident before and since the accident. BEFORE the accident she worked multiple waitress / hostess jobs and was able at a young age to own her own home; SINCE the accident she's worked hard to improve and gain her independence and is back in her home with both her sons. every time I see her I'm reminded how close we came to losing her. I vow to never text while driving.