Journal

A brain injury can have a profound impact on an individual’s physical, cognitive, emotional, and behavioural functioning. The specific changes experienced by a person depend on various factors such as the location, severity, and type of injury, as well as the individual’s age, overall health, and pre-injury abilities.

Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) refers to any damage to the brain that occurs after birth, as opposed to a congenital brain injury which is present at birth. An ABI can be caused by a variety of factors, including trauma to the head, a stroke, or an infection, among others.

I don’t play hockey, but I’m drawing parallels to riding a bike. Helmets play a crucial role in providing protection for hockey players, same as to a bike rider, because although they’re different sports, a head injury is a head injury. Here are some of the main functions and benefits of wearing helmets in hockey:

I’ve come to realize that although being physically disabled is an obstacle, it’s obvious that I have challenges. Having an invisible brain injury is more difficult, because if a mistake is made, or something negative happens that’s caused by it, it’s even more difficult for several reasons.

After the crash I felt less than zero. The week before I’d done a triathlon, my 7th, and the month before I’d biked to Kingston from Ottawa (roughly 150 km, in the Rideau Lakes ride). I was in Soldiers of Fitness, doing all sorts of physical fitness drills, and I looked in the mirror and simply saw what I’m not. Negativity came, with self-labelling as “pathetic”, “mostly useless”, or worse. I wasn’t suicidal, but when a car passed me pretty closely when I was riding I thought “I might have died, oh well”, and that’s it.