I am now 22yrs old and I have a TBI (traumatic brain injury)... I was only 19 when I had my car accident.  If it wasn't for my family, friends, doctors and my brain injury, I wouldn't have known I had had a serious car accident.  They said I was on my way to work the morning of January 3rd 2001, it was yucky whether, I entered into a curve near my home, the safe speed limit is 25, but the trooper says it looked, from the tread marks, that I was going about 35.  In the car that I had at that time, I didn't wear the seatbelt because it hurt my neck and I never took the time to get one of those little guards... Trooper says I slipped off the road and over-corrected, flipping me into a telephone pole. But thank God for that telephone pole or I would have been at the bottom of a VERY steep and long hill. They say I stopped breathing when the fireman pulled me from the car, I was rushed to the hospital where I was put on life support and in a coma for 12 days. On the 12th day, I was sent to Atlanta GA's Shepherd Center for brain and spinal injuries. They gradually took me off of life support but I remained in a coma for 26 days. Almost my whole brain was covered in blood when cat scans were done... Brain stem included. But mostly I was injured on the left side of my brain, therefore, when I was learning to do things, I would greatly resist using my right hand for anything. They finally got me to use my right hand though. I had to relearn EVERYTHING, eat, drink, roll, crawl, walk.. of course, cognitive things also. I finally returned home in April to continue therapy here. It has taken me 2 years, but my friends and family believe that I am mostly back to my old self.
 
   Most people with Brain injuries are very depressed that something this tragic has happened to them, but for me, I am fine with it, I accept it....if not to say I am grateful for it.. It has changed my life dramatically, but not for the worse...for the better :).
 
  I returned to college the semester after my wreck and I will graduate in 2 semesters.. so really, it only set me back one semester. To beat all, I have a higher GPA then just before my accident.