Brain injury survivors face tough time with acceptance

Gardnerville resident Michael Smith was retrieving files on a Michigan warehouse dock on Feb. 6, 1990, when a worker attacked him. A cerebral hemorrhage from the subsequent beating left him with brain damage that changed his life.

"I got home but I don't remember how," he said. "I woke up in my apartment three days later, but the bleeding over my right eye had caused a loss of brain cells."

Trauma during the attack caused injuries in other parts of the brain, an ordeal that put him in and out of rehabilitation for more than three years, he said.

"My injury cost my parents over $250,000 in the first two years alone," he said. "In my case, I became a burden. After years of my mother trying to help me, she sent me to California. Right now, I'm getting paid by my mom not to be home."

Smith's parents were divorced and he spent a year in California with his father, before he was deserted in a Coloma, Calif., campground.

"They'd rather have you disappear," Smith said. "Society doesn't see you either and those in wheelchairs get abused pretty badly."

He said his experience is common. Testimonials at a Web site sponsored by the Brain Injury Association of America speak of the isolation and a change in priorities.

People with brain damage think differently after they've been hurt, Smith said.

"I remember being at a football game with 50,000 people," he said. "Everyone was tuned into the same thing, but you don't connect with that flow. You aren't inside that envelope.

"It's the same thing with time. Someone with brain damage can be so disconnected that they have no grasp. They always have to fight to be aware of it," he said. "I can be sitting there and looking at you but not be conscious. I can easily lose two to three hours."

Early symptoms can vary widely, including anything from headaches and difficulty concentrating, to a loss of smell or ringing in the ears, according to information from the Association.

Smith spoke of one acquaintance, a doctor who he only knew through emails, who wrote beautiful letters. When he saw the man for the first time, he was in a wheelchair and couldn't speak.

"Everyone has a strength," he said. "His is the ability to communicate."

Of the 1.4 million who sustain a brain injury each year, 50,000 die. Another 235,000 are hospitalized.

The symptoms can be subtle and may not appear until day or weeks after the trauma. An estimated 1.1 million people are treated and released from an emergency room, according to information from the Association.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that at least 5.3 million Americans have long-term or a lifelong need for help to perform daily activities.

Smith, who suffers from depression and has considered suicide like most of those with brain damage, said helping others gives him a boost.

He does a little of everything, from collecting food for a local food bank, to cleaning houses, to collecting cans for the Humane Society. His latest cause is raising the consciousness of brain injuries and what these people must endure, in addition to advocating for any preventive measures.

"If we can communicate the fact that there are a lot of people like me out there, maybe we can get them job training," Smith said.

Employers often won't consider hiring these people due to their frequent seizures, he said.

Smith, who can only work a maximum of four hours at any type of physical labor, first volunteered at the Salvation Army, where he successfully coordinated their food closet. He then worked as a data entry volunteer at a hospital. Finally, he got his first paid job as a dishwasher.

"My 15-year-old co-worker said to me, 'not much on career planning, are you,'" Smith said. "To me, that job was a treasure."

Smith likens living with brain damage to throwing a pebble in the water.

"At first the water is choppy," he said. "But sooner or later the circles smooth out. People with brain damage do become more competent."

There aren't a lot of rehabilitation facilities in Nevada, but the Brain Injury Association is helping build supportive chapters here, Smith said.

Blasts are a leading cause of brain injury for active-duty military personnel in war zones and a new light has been cast on this issue following the injury of ABC Anchor Bob Woodruff, who was hit by an improvised explosive device while on assignment in Iraq in 2006.

The Bob Woodruff Family Fund for Traumatic Brain Injury is raising money through events and activities for military victims and their families, in addition to funding grants for medical research, public education, awareness and prevention.

The Douglas County Board of Commissioners will proclaim Aug. 11-17 Brain Injury Awareness Week in Douglas County at Thursday's regular meeting.

• Susie Vasquez can be reached at svasquez@recordcourier.com or 782-5121, ext. 211.