“It takes one second to injure your brain….weeks, months and years to recover.”

One month before I got married in the summer of 2015, I was hit by a truck while riding my motorcycle through a round-about on Pecos street over I-70 in Denver. The moments during the crash are a blur but my head hit the pavement and I slid underneath my bike for a considerable distance. I was scraped up and had a concussion but no major long term brain injuries. I was one of the lucky ones. I was wearing a helmet. I had two professors in Physical Therapy school that cared enough about me to really “let me have it” when they found out that I would ride my motorcycle without wearing a helmet. The first thing that I did when I got home from the emergency department was write thank you letters to Larissa Hoffman and Tom Mcpoil. There is a good chance that without their, lets say encouragement to wear a helmet, that I would not have survived my motorcycle accident. I will forever be grateful to both of them.

Not all people have a Tom and Larissa or have an accident that a helmet can protect the brain. Not all accidents are avoidable and not all people are so lucky. These are the people that need our help. Recovering from a brain injury whether it’s from being hit in the head, stroke, brain cancer or other forms of injury is a challenge. Often times people will need to re-learn different ways to interact with the world, different ways to interact with people, different ways to move! Sometimes brain injury symptoms do not have a physical manifestation, which can make it difficult to receive an appropriate diagnosis and treatment. Navigating life with a brain injury can be turbulent and finding assistance from the Brain Injury Alliance is life changing. People can get help finding appropriate providers (Physicians, PT’s, SLP’s, OT’s), treatment and resources to help them navigate the world. The Brain Injury Alliance uses the funds to help improve the body of research surrounding brain injury recovery as well as prevention.

I decided to become an advocate for the BIAC because of the death of my brother Jesse. It’s possible that repeated head trauma might have lead to the circumstances in which he died unexpectedly in 2009. My family has decided to take the worst moment in our lives and try to make the world a better place. Luckily we also have some amazing friends that help us make a positive impact through participation, donation and spreading the word through this amazing event.

Pandemic, murder hornets, Brexit, Olympic cancellation, lock downs this year has been ………….Please don’t say it……….unprecedented (Communal Groan). This event is definitely meant to raise funds for the BIAC, however I completely understand if that’s just not in the cards right now. If you cannot donate financially then try to spread the word to other people or just send some positive vibes towards the ever-growing Team Jesse on September 12, 2020 as we complete Pike Peak Challenge!

There are 2 ways that you can Donate.
1. Go to https://www.pikespeakchallenge.com/team/team-jesse-4/

2. Mail a Check made payable to BIAC to the following address
Sherm Terry
1840 Starstone Court
Colorado Springs Colorado 80919

Thank You for your time and consideration,

TNT

1. 
   Tim Terry
   $50.00
2. 
   Margie & Mike Berumen
   $20.00
3. 
   Brittany Wyeno
   $25.00