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

STORIES OF AMAZING RECOVERIES

Submitted By: Richard Blount jr
Telephone: 210-646-2352
email: jellocard@aol.com

hi i am barry...in the summer of 1980 i was living on base in fort knox, ky. i was trying to endure the socially tortuous transition from middle school to senior high school. anyways i was a geek type boy, and i discovered illegal drug use came with a crowd, a buzz, and so at age 12 i had already tried every drug there was: heroin-pot-lsd-cocaine amphetamines etc... this usage escalated to the point of severe mental instability , and i ended up shooting myself in the head with a .32 subnose pistol to kill myself- well- i never once went unconcious, and i soon realized my folks did love and like me and i did a horrific thing.

the doctors immediately ablated and packed my sinuses/frontal/i had a total frontal lobotomy whch resulted in severe emotional problems. i realized a week or so later that my attempt had not worked- in fact it left me with total left sided hemiparesis+a hugee lowerleft quadfrant vision field cut+ nystagmus- unfortunately my wound got infected and at the same time as my tbi i contracted a very nasty case of aeseptic meningitis which was horrificly painful -i had to endure 5 times per day spinal taps my brain injury caused me total aphasia and i could not even communicate on a basic levelduring my infection i also contracteda biotics resistant nosocomial double pnuemonia the doctors said my chance at survival of any kind was nonexistant /less than 5percent chance- also that i would not ever walk or finish school as i had returned to a very young infantile mental state with baby talk to top of my mess!

eventually and paifully i beat the meningitis and lung problems and began intensive re-education along with pt/ot/sepeach therapy ec ...and with much work i managed to regain a lot of my mnal functions- but still i was and am to this day a leftsided ambulatory hemiplegic i still have hundreds of skull and bullet fragments scattered throughout my brain and endure excrutiatingly painful intense blinding migraines which require hospitalization frequently to this day....

well with stumbles along the way into drugs and depression i managed in 1984 to graduate from augsberg american high school while overseas. i began college in munich and workedfor the military for years as a surgical vet tech+armed forces recreation staff in bernau all thru the 80's+90's+200's i had problems with druds and to this day i have severe problems in the area of decision making.+emotional outbursts from the beginning he doctors said i would be confined to a wheelchair by the time i was 35- well in spite of recen broken lgs+weight gains+losses i am now 40years old- finished with drugs and alcohol yet i still struggle with my emotions and simple decisions+bad physical painpre-injury my i.q. was tested in the 141-149 range- post injury my iq fell to around 100 now with work i test at a respectable 142 /lower mensa range.

now as an adult i am starting to witness the decline of my paralyzed body but i get along with a limp just fine and i regularly walk 10 or more miles per day- i still have mood swings but i cant help glorying in the fact that im using to my best my 2nd chance at life!- i dont know if it is a result of my injury but preinjury i was a seminormal hetero teen yet post injury i now have accepted that i am a homosexual adult male and i am ok with i and have a very lively, active sex and social life-- life is a struggle but i am overcoming all effects of my injury and i'll never give up!