Why The Resilient Brain?
This journey has been a long process. I am sure every author says that about every book they create… but in all seriousness, The Resilient Brain, has involved three full years of learning, experiencing, reflecting, and healing through our families own journey of a loved one experiencing a traumatic brain injury.
A common question is “How did this come to be?”
As I sat and really reflected on this question, there were a couple moments when I wanted to make this more than a “well that should change” moment. The first moment was when I was trying to explain to my daughter what had happened to her Dad. My daughter was just about to turn 4 and my son was 11 months old when my husbands accident happened. I remember vividly sitting in her bedroom with her curly blonde hair and her big blue eyes looking at me as I was trying to explain what was happening. The last 12 years, I’ve had the incredible job of being a special education teacher. I had an immense amount of experience breaking down difficult subjects into concrete, simplified language. But… this time it did not come so easy. Questioning if I said enough, too much, too little, I went to what I knew best as a teacher, children’s books. I was shocked to see there is very little represented in children’s literature about brain injuries. I knew I had to change that.
The second moment was when I sat in my husband’s hospital room watching him fight to win against his brain injury. I saw his own resilience and drive to put the hard work in, even if it meant immense pain. It was these pivotal moments in our own families journey when I came to realize, we were not the only family who had young kids navigating this. I remember telling my husbands doctors and therapists “how is there nothing out there for kids about this?”. Again the “I knew I had to change this” thought came into my head.
As our third “accident anniversary” came and went, I felt a deep calling that I had to do something about that very question I posed years ago at the hospital. In my gut, the time felt right that I could invest the time and energy I knew would be needed to get this out there. My hope and desire is that my book can not only give you knowledge and awareness of what traumatic brain injuries are, but to encourage you, your loved one, a friend, neighbor, their loved ones (or as I will reference to the “warriors”) to be resilient and never give up hope in their own journey. This is a complex chapter of your/ their life story. I hope The Resilient Brain can be a helpful guide on how to start navigating that.
As far as this blog….my wish is that as you read this it would feel that we are having this conversation together. For this to be a place of encouragement, a space you can gain helpful tips/revelations I have gained through our experience, but most importantly just a safe space to say “I see you, I’ve been there, and I understand”, in a place where you may feel invisible. I am by no means an expert, and still have a LOT to learn, but I hope our journey so far could help someone in those very early moments that we were once in.
Thank you for joining me along in this journey. I can not wait to share this process alongside all of you.
With gratitude,
Katianne