Help for Brain Injury Victims

This handsome DJ is my brother Casey Leonard. On Memorial Day weekend he was involved in a tragic ATV accident and suffered severe brain trauma. I am happy to report that Casey is working his way back to us one day at a time. Everyday my family rejoices that he is a living miracle, even his doctors say they've never seen a patient survive with injuries as serious as Casey's. He is still in the hospital but when the time is right he'll go to a rehabilitation center where he will stay until he is well enough to go home.

My family is experiencing first hand the arduous journey a brain injury victim must walk. A few nights after his accident Casey's mother whispered to him that if the pain was too bad and the road ahead too hard she would do her best to let him go. "If you want to go to God, I'll understand, " she told me she whispered in his ear. Casey decided to fight and we are fighting with him.

There are so many families dealing with the same situation. We are not alone. Wives and parents are welcoming loved ones home from Iraq that have suffered a brain injury due to IED's and other bombings. They face months of recovery and an even longer adjustment to the reality of living with and within a battered mind.

A battalion was created this summer, at Camp LeJune, North Carolina to give the soldiers a place of support and marine camaraderie. It's called the Wounded Warrior Battalion. To read more about this inspirational place go to http://sempermax.com/index.html.

We are finding out with my brother that victims of TBI need constant support and stimulation. They must relearn many of the activities we take for granted. Talking, eating, walking, grasping...things we do almost involuntarily, must be taught as if the adult victim were a young toddler. Connections in the brain must be hopefully rewired by playing memory games, coloring pictures, doing crafts, and simple tasks that link motor skills and thought.

It's an exhausting act of love to be a victim's source of support. If you'd like to help families like mine in some small but tangible way, I located http://www.doonenicething.com/index.php. Do One Nice Thing has a program listed under IDEAS labeled "We can help people with brain injuries". Here is what they suggest:

One of the most outstanding Brain Rehabilitation centers is at the Mayo Clinic, http://www.mayoclinic.orb/, in Rochester, MN. Games and crafts, below, help patients undergoing recreational therapy.
Please send any of the following:

decks of playing cards
wood kits
watercolor paint sets
package of colored pencils
a sketch bookstamp pads/rubber stamps
100-300 piece jigsaw puzzles
games: Scrabble, Trouble, Uno, Scattergories (new or gently used)

How about including a card of encouragement? "We're with you." "You can do it!" "Sending you love." It's a good project to do with children.

Mail to: Dr. Tom Bergquist, Inpatient Rehab Unit, 3 MB, St. Mary's Hospital, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN 55905.

On behalf of my family and Casey (I know he would thank you if he could) thank you in advance for anything you do to make the day of a brain injury patient orpgaofcp he/her family a little brighter.