My husband and I were triathletes and endurance athletes. On March 13, 2017, I was stopped at a traffic light and a young girl looking down at her phone rear-ended my car going 45 mph. She never saw me until impact. I obtained a pretty serious traumatic brain injury and Dysautonomia which completely changed the trajectory of our lives. This is a picture of us racing adaptively.
Two years later, I still struggle with daily head pain, attention, short term memory, cognitive delay, sensitivity to light and extreme sensitivity to sound, impaired depth perception, peripheral vision, neuro-fatigue, impaired autonomic nervous system including heart rate breathing temperature etc.; balance, sleep disturbances, delayed processing, and slow, slurred speech.
I am so thankful to the Brain Injury Alliance of Colorado! I have been able to participate in art therapy, music therapy, support groups, classes on grieving, mediation, and brain injury; social outings to baseball games, lunch and movies with other survivors. The highlight was being able to attend Challenge by Choice Camp last summer in Breckenridge. This was by far the best week of my entire life! I met life long friends and had adventures that I never thought would be possible! It’s hard to describe the amount of love and support that was shared and felt that week but it’s like nothing else I’ve ever experienced!
This year I am excited to participate again in the Pikes Peak Challenge. I will be doing the 2 mile walk in Manitou Springs. My team name is Team Positive! I believe having a strong, positive mindset is a huge part of my recovery. I hope everyone reading this will donate, sign up to participate, and share and invite as many friends as you can to join us! You can join or donate to my team even if you don’t know me! Team Positive! You can sign up to walk 2 miles in Manitou Springs, hike to Barr Camp, or hike to the top of Pikes Peak! Invite as many friends as you can to join you! I promise it will be a memorable, life-changing experience!
I’ll be cheering for you and be waiting for you at the finish line!
And most of all, never ever look down at your phone while driving.
