"We didn’t know how extensive the need was," said William Ditto, head of the Office of Disability Services for the state of New Jersey. Mr. Ditto tried to explain his position in an interview with Susan K. Livio, a reporter covering the Statehouse for nj.com. "Nobody wants to do this. My back is against the wall," he further explained.

The State of New Jersey was a leader among states providing assistance to victims of brain injury. In 2001, the state developed the Brain Injury Fund that paid for speech therapy and other needed treatments not covered by health insurance. Since 2004, about 2,200 people have been helped. That will soon change with new regulations slated to begin in the Spring.

The proposed new regulation will limit access to the program to individuals whose brain injury is the result of a direct blow to the head. If this rule had been in effect in 2004 only 900 of the 2,200 would have received treatment.

Twenty-five years ago, Michael Jankowsky tried to help a friend who had gotten into a fight. He was stabbed in the heart, and his body began shutting down. The lack of oxygen getting to his brain caused extensive cell damage. He is confined to a wheel chair, still slurs his speech and has concentration problems – not unlike millions of other brain injury victims in the United States. In addition to limiting who can receive assistance from New Jersey’s Brain Injury Fund, available services are being cut as well.

Transportation will no longer be provided. Electronics like personal alarms will no longer be covered. Many brain injury victims use personal alarms to compensate for lost memory skills. It helps them know when to go places or perform other tasks. Personal computers play a huge role for these people who have both cognitive and memory problems. (continued below)

Brain Injury Costs

Living with brain injury is expensive. In addition to a regular medical doctor, many victims must see neurologists, psychologists, endocrinologists as well as speech, physical and occupational therapists. Migraine headaches are a common complaint as is high blood pressure and vision problems. Many brain injury victims find they cannot return to work or must, at least, seek stress-free work at a flexible workplace.

Chee Chee Parker worked at the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. Her desk was in a direct line of the impact when the plane commandeered by terrorists hit the building. Though she suffered many injuries, she says the worst was her brain injury. She left the military and was able to find another job…for a short time. The effects of brain injury forced her out.

Others say: "I lost everything, my home, job, car all.. I have not found fiance help anywhere I get SSI and food assistance I have been in poverty since my injury." – Lynn; "I have been in such poverty since my tbi." – Hope; "I sustained my TBI on March 3, 1994 when a student knocked me unconscious. Needless to say that was the end of my teaching career." – Melba; "We learn to live in poverty." – Terry

Increasing health care costs and limited, if any, sources of income make government assistance almost a necessity. Now, those programs are going away. Congress has pretty much frittered away health insurance reform. Short of Medicare for Everyone, a single-payor system, the people you read about here would still be unable to afford insurance premiums. Yes, some qualify for Medicaid, and some qualify for SSI, but that still doesn’t provide the therapies they need to develop their lives more fully. America, we need to do something.

Uncle Brice Supporters

Say Hey to the Good Folks that make this blog possible:

Online Little Rock.com is where Uncle Brice got his start. There’s a ton of information on this site about Arkansas, Little Rock, dining, dancing, shopping (and shopping online). It’s also a high-trafficked Civil War information site. You can even find out stuff about all the colleges and universities of Arkansas.

Home Business Opportunities is a site that has never been more in demand. You can find legitimate ways to earn money from home as well as a lot of information about Internet marketing, writing, building traffic for your website, and more.

The owners of Online Little Rock have a mission in life to teach everyone about brain injury. They have two websites that have hundreds of pages of information, including visitor-submitted Brain Injury Stories. The sites are Brain Injury Online and Brain Injury Guide.

Beth’s Brain Injury Blog is a favorite in the brain injury community. She writes about the good, the bad and the ugly of brain injury and how you must maintain a sense of humor to live successfully whether you are the victim or a caregiver.

Brain injury blogs provide a great deal of current information about the number one cause of death and disabilty in the world. Jane H. of Seattle, Washington writes one of my favorites. After having two brain injuries three years apart, Jane describe herself as being like Swiss cheese: the block is still sharp but has holes.

The story featured in the photo, Something like "AAADD", is one that millions of people can relate to, not just persons living with brain injury. Here’s a short excerpt.

"Recently, I was diagnosed with A.A.A.D.D – Age Activated Attention Deficit Disorder. This is how it manifests:

"I decided to wash my car. As I start toward the garage, I notice that there is mail on the hall table. I decide to go through the mail before I wash the car. I lay my car keys down on the table, put the junk mail in the trash can under the table, and notice that the trash can is full.

"So, I decide to put the bills back on the table and take out the trash first. But then I think, since I’m going to be near the mailbox when I take out the trash anyway, I may as well pay the bills first.

"I take my checkbook off the table, and see that there is only one check left. My extra checks are in my desk in the study, so I go to my desk where I find the bottle of juice that I had been drinking. …"

You can read the rest of this story on Jane’s blog by clicking this link: Something like "AAADD"

Brain Injury Books at Amazon

Another entertaining and informative article by Jane is entitled, "This Too Shall Pass." Here’s an excerpt:.

"I feel so very confused as to who I am, who I am not, and who I should be, and who I can be. I want to know where the brain holes are so I can avoid them. I want something like a map to a mine field. I want to know exactly what is not working. I want to know exactly what I need to avoid. I want to know what I can do, and do well." …

" look normal. I seem normal. Not only to my friends but to me too! I keep expecting myself to be normal just as they do. The confusing thing is that often I am “normal” and sometimes I am not." …

"Another thing that is frightening or confusing to me about all of this is that I TRULY do not know what I can do and what I can’t. Now as I am learning more about TBIs I am also seeing how many compensatory techniques I have already developed. The compensatory techniques are a good thing. I am not knocking them. They are also part of the silver lining that I have talked about in previous posts. But all the compensatory techniques I am now identifying are also pointing to the number and depth of holes that currently exist. What I need to do is develop more compensatory techniques but first, as I explained above, I have to find and define the holes." Read the complete articleby clicking this link: This Too Shall Pass

Brain injury blogs provide a great deal of current information about the number one cause of death and disabilty in the world. Most of these bloggers are living with brain injury as a major part of their lives.

Brain injury causes memory problems, cognitive problems and behavioral problems which cause mental fatigue, confusion, frustration, guilt and depression.

Everyone needs to know more about brain injury. It’s always unexpected. It’s always unwanted. And, for the most part, it lasts a lifetime.

Brain Injury Books at Amazon

Official Blog of TrainingPeaks» Blog Archives » Traumatic brain … – In 2005, David McGuire suffered a traumatic brain injury as a result of blunt force trauma to his head. His brain started to swell so much that a large section of his skull had to be removed for 28 days. Now, although he can no longer …

Mother's Day Is Always Christmas « Kara Swanson's Brain Injury Blog – Kara Swanson’s Brain Injury Blog …. Blogroll. Kara’s Cafe Press Storefront · Kara’s Online Store With Cool Mouse Pads, Tote Bags and Unique Casual Wear For The Whole Family · Blog at WordPress.com.

For Iraq veterans headaches continue following traumatic brain … – Thirty-seven percent of the soldiers stated that their headaches began within one week of the traumatic brain injury (TBI); of these 60 percent had migraine-like headaches and 40 percent had headaches which interfered with their ability …

Traumatic Brain Injury in young children associated with later … – A few weeks ago I reviewed a study on the long-term effects of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) in children. I mentioned in that review that previous research led to the likely incorrect assumption that the effects of mild TBI …. Child- Psych.org is a research-based informational blog on child disorders, parenting, and child development. If you have any questions please contact us at info@child-psych.org. Read more About Us. Readour Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. …

Brain injury is the number one cause of death and disability in the world. It is also one of the most difficult medical problems to deal with since everyone’s brain is different prior to such an injury. Brain injury affects different people in different ways.

The three most common issues are memory problems, cognitive problems and behavioral problems. These lead, as you might expect, to other problems such as mental fatigue, confusion, frustration, guilt and depression.

Think about this. Who would know how much of a memory problem you have? Who would know how a memory problem has affected you? Imagine yourself sitting in a doctors office and saying, "I am having problems with my memory." The doctor asks, "What sort of problems?" Your immediate response would probably be, "I don’t know; I can’t remember." People who have sustained a brain injury face this type of situation every moment of every day.

Family members and others who are living successfully with brain injury are, perhaps, the best ones to help. Professional brain injury rehabilitation normally lasts only a few months even though the brain injury lasts a lifetime. It is very probable that a person who was intelligent before sustaining a brain injury is equally intelligent after such an injury. Cognitive problems, though, cause the person to think more slowly because the brain in processing information more slowly. Thus, when taking a timed IQ test, such a person will inevitably score lower.

Many brain injury survivors see themselves on a new mission in life: to help others who are living with brain injury. There are many, many blogs and social sites dedicated to brain injury victims and their families. Below you will find the beginning of an ever-growing list of these sites.

Brain Injury Books at Amazon

Beth’s Brain Injury Blog is maintained weekly by Beth Jameson who sustained an anoxic brain injury in August 1990. After she woke up from her medically-induced coma, Beth did not remember being married or that she had two children. She did not remember how to apply makeup nor did she know how to cook.

Beth and her husband spent months learning about brain injury, memory strategies, cognitive strategies and how to deal with her behavioral changes. She began a life of debilitating migraine headaches that hit every six days just like clockwork and forced her into bed for 48 hours each time. Returning to her job seemed like an impossible dream, and brain injury specialists told her that she might never be able to return. Strategy after strategy was developed about how to perform her job duties. She did return and, eventually, earned a promotion to Strategic Sourcing Analyst at a Fortune 500 company. Her blog receives many visitors every day.

We Are TBI is a social media site for brain injury victims and their family members. The site is similar to Facebook with different communities (groups) and the ability to add friends with whom you can interact. There are Walls to write on and many discussions where people ask questions or simply share information about brain injury legislation, research or daily living strategies.

One person said, "I have met a good bit of folks since I’ve discovered the T.B.I. sites. Everyone I’ve met has different stories; but, one thing definitely in common and that is their amazing strength to overcome adversity and come up on the other side fighting with vengence to get control again. And no matter what obstacle is thrown in their paths they just hike up their skirts or trousers and keep on truckin’!! That is darn inspiring to me."

The Brain Tree is a fairly new social media site for brain injury victims and those who support them. Pam created this site in honor of Dorothy Kay, a brain injury survivor from Kansas who now lives in New York City.

Dorothy was in her first semester of college she was walking home one evening when a drunk driver hit her with his pick-up truck. With a severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) she was given a 7% chance of moderate recovery, but that did not stop her.
Since then she has graduated, worked abroad, organized international festivals, and much more. She beat the odds, but she doesn’t just want to beat them; she wants to change them.

Many more brain injury blogs, social networks and websites will be added.