A medical, legal, and
informational resource
for persons dealing with
traumatic brain injury.

STORIES OF AMAZING RECOVERIES

Shelia Terry
Texas
sheliat@nts-online.net

On May 9, 1998, our son, Mark Terry, who was 26 years old at the time suffered a severe closed head injury while riding a motorcross bike at a track in Greenville, Texas. He was airlifted to Methodist Hospital in Dallas, Texas. We were called and told we needed to get there as fast as possible because the doctor's didn't believe he would live. Mark was in a coma for over a month and we were told by all the doctor's and nurses that he would never wake up and if he did he would be a "vegetable" for the rest of his life.

Mark did wake up, and with the grace of God and extreme effort started on a long hard road to recovery. He was in the hospital and rehab for over a year and to this day continues to work on his problems that are a result of his injury. His life as he knew it was ended in a split second on that dirt track, he now struggles to regain as much of his old self that he can.

Mark owned his own framing business and could not return to this because of his injury. He went to drafting school and graduated with high honors but has been unable to maintain a job in that field because of his short term memory problems. Most people do not understand the world of a brain injured person and do not allow him time to become adjusted.

Mark is a true inspiration to all who meet him and is a blessing to have. He is able to be a good daddy to his little girl, Haley, who is 9 now. His wife divorced him in 1999. There is over an 82% change in personal relationships with persons who experience the very life changing results of sustaining a brain injury.

Mark is fully capable of taking care of himself, he can drive (even better now than before the accident - he is more cautious). He is a happy person with a beautiful smile. If one were to meet him in a crowded room, one would never guess he has sustained a brain injury. He still has brain injury for " drop foot"; and spacicity in his left leg . Other than that, he is just like everyone else.

He is anxious to get a job and to contribute more toward his daughter's future. He is so far from the "vegetable" we were told of for over a month long ago in May of 1998 that if we as a family lived the experience, we would not be able to connect the Mark of today with the Mark we were told would never get better.

I say this to all who have a loved one who has suffered a brain injury. Never give up hope, the brain is an unknown to most in the medical profession. Love them, encourage them - and be their voice until they can speak for themselves. Be their legs until they can use their own. When speaking for them be loud and clear and express to their doctors they are loved and cared for and that you want that doctor and the nurses and PT's and OT's and speech techs, and all others involved to treat your loved one just like they would treat them if it was their son, daughter, mother father, sister, brother.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel.......if you first enter it you can see no light.....except the one that shines from God. Keep on, the way can be long, hard and sometimes lonely. But there can be a light at the end (and we haven't reached the end with Mark). There is hope.

Sincerely,

Mark's Mom
Shelia

(You may email Shelia at the address posted above)