Life After a Head Injury:
An Amazing Insight into the Trials and Triumps

by Dottie Reagan

anymore. I couldn't get a job because I was in so much pain. I couldn't stand or sit long. All my family lived 20 hours away so I didn't even have a shoulder to cry on. I can remember (now) when I went to my previous pastor and I asked for help. They didn't even know what to do.

So, how did I survive? I survived by having something I loved to do. I had done this all my life and could do it without someone telling me I was no good — I survived through my art. I returned to art teachers, some of whom must have thought I was really stupid for not remembering anything they tried to teach me. I spent some of the lawsuit money on trying to become a better artist.

My bent was for fine art, and I joined every art league I could until my back wouldn't let me go any longer. Then people started helping me. They picked up my art and took it places. Some other artists would come to my home and paint with me. Some teachers would come to my home to teach. After many years of coping, training, and going where I could learn from good international artists, I finally had to stop and have steel put in my back in order to walk. I have spent many hours coping with that and learning how to try and get my back life. More people helped. Some of them walked my doggie for me. Some brought me food. Some prayed and were supportive. My church and the people in it never made me feel inferior. I was accepted for who I was. As time went on, I became skilled enough to win some awards. I sold some art and donated some. I am not through yet. It has taken me ten years to get to the point where I want to tell my story for all the people who have had their lives taken away. When this happens people do not seem to understand. You feel very alone and very stupid among other things. Take heart. Do not give up. Sooner or later, God will send someone to you. Life may get better just around the corner. Find a way to get out of yourself. Do what you love, however big or small — it doesn't matter. And there is always God. For me, He was there to talk to, "seek and ye shall find." There is me. I am not a nurse — but I am a good listener.

Take heart, take care, and take time. It has taken me ten years to get the courage to write this article. Not for me, but for you and the world to see. Bandages are not the only indication of suffering. Do not give up. No matter when and where, or what your challenges are, you can do it. Don't give up for more than a day at a time. Be good to yourself, be kind to yourself and be a friend to yourself. Be a friend to someone else; get an animal to love. Giving someone or something a hug is a reward in itself. Or call me. I'll give you an art lesson.

To contact Dottie Reagan, please call (770) 924-3014.

My name is Dottie Reagan. I have been an artist full-time for the past ten years. I am about to tell you my story. This, I hope, will be encouragement for the people who have been and will be (unfortunately) injured physically and mentally in the future, whether the injury is by car, accident, stroke, crime or abuse. I want people to know, it is not easy. If you are alone, it will be even harder, but you can survive. At the same time, you can strive for a life worth living. There are people who will help you. For example, there is the lady who has been picking up and delivering both my art, and me. There are many others (now, including me) who will also help you.

Let me start ten years ago. I was seriously injured when a business truck hit my car on Highway 92. I broke the windshield with my head and was thrown around the inside of the car. It took eight years before I relented to surgery. I gave in when I could not walk well any longer. In those last ten years, I was in a head injury clinic and had multiple doctors wanting to operate on my back. I lost my speech and my upper cognitive thinking ability, and I was confused by as little as three pieces of paper. I couldn't balance a checkbook any longer. I got lost in the car constantly because I couldn't remember how to get anywhere. I had a husband who did not believe how injured I was because I did not wear the requisite number of bandages. I didn't want anyone to know I was having a lot of trouble. I lost my job because I worked for an attorney who didn't believe what he couldn't see, and so on.

People have a difficult time with disabilities they don't understand. I had a lawsuit, but won very little compensation. The jury, even though they could see my speech was not right, didn't see a person who was injured. They saw a person who was well dressed, hair done, and could sit through a trial. Regardless of who testified in regard to my condition, they did not believe enough to see that my life would never be the same, and it has not been. It has made me aware that many people need help, even though it is hard to see that they do. It has made me aware that I can help those kinds of people in need. At the time, I had a full deck stacked against me. I couldn't go back to school to finish getting my degree because I couldn't remember things long enough to pass the exams. I couldn't tell anyone because I was ashamed of myself for not making the grade