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In 2001, Joe crashed while riding his bicycle and incurred a mild traumatic brain injury. He was wearing a helmet which lessened the damage. At age 40, he came to UNH to pursue a degree in Recreational Management. Joe loves the campus environment but he is investing significant effort into learning to successfully complete his coursework. Although he physically looks the same, there are dramatic differences in the way Joe's brain works now and how he approaches his academic and personal life. Still an avid biker, Joe hopes to lead bike trips in America and Europe after he graduates. |
Read All of Joe's Story
or click below for individual sections
The Challenges of a Head Injury
Returning to School with a Head Injury
Choosing a Career Path
Strategies
The Benefits of Asking for Help
Being Emotionally Alive
Future Goals
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THE CHALLENGES OF HAVING A HEAD INJURY
One of the challenges with a brain injury is that nothing is obvious right away. It took me a long time, and it is still happening, to see what is missing, what is different. It can be very frustrating and saddening. I have not gotten to the point yet where I have fully thought about it. My concept of disability will continue to grow and be enhanced as I better understand myself.
Our brains are like libraries. Everything is organized and easy to find because it is all referenced. Except my library (in my head), someone tipped over. The book is in there, but you don’t know where it is because everything is all scattered. Sometimes I can’t find the one I am looking for or it takes me hours to find it. There is a great amount of frustration for me when that happens. In class sometimes, one thing is happening and I am talking about another thing that is happening. It is totally different. People are like, where are you? It makes it more challenging for me. I just need to honor and respect my brain when it is out of sync and not close down. I don’t want to not say something because I am not sure if what I am going to say is on the right path. I just need to express to the best of my ability.
RETURNING TO SCHOOL WITH A HEAD INJURY
I am learning how to be a student again. It is not coming naturally. A lot of energy and effort is going in to try to figure it out. My reference points aren’t valid anymore. Before my brain injury, I could tell you how much time I was going to put into an assignment, when I would start, and when I would be done. I could predict it all for you and it would come true, guaranteed. Now the challenge for me is I can try to predict it but my ability to get that outcome is very discouraging. I realize it is a process. I’m learning new ways to accomplish the same tasks. There is definite progress. As long as I stay committed and I don’t give up, I know it is doable. I am confident that I will succeed. I will do whatever I need to do. I get an “A” in confidence!
CHOOSING A CAREER PATH
Six months after my head injury, I went to Vocational Rehabilitation in Portsmouth. They gave me many tests which gave me ideas of what jobs I would be good at and interested in. The jobs were all people related: Teaching, Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, Recreational Therapy. I love recreation. I went to talk with someone who was doing Recreational Therapy. I visited UNH and they teach it here. The pieces started to come together. It made sense to me. Then I went on vacation in Canada with a friend. He knew I was looking at my options. One night he looked in my eyes and said, “You need to make decision, a commitment, and you need to do it now”. He was right. The next morning I said, “I am going to become a Recreational Therapist”. Had I done nothing, nothing would have happened.
STATEGIES
Before the semester even starts, I approach my teachers and introduce myself and explain my situation. I am laying the groundwork for my success. I feel really good about that because I start the process: start early, tell the truth, and ask for help if necessary. I have taken three classes successfully during a semester, that’s a full load to me. What I can’t anticipate is the amount of effort for a particular class until I’m in it.
A couple of times I have gotten in over my head. I have faced my short comings and taken corrective action. Last fall semester, I almost hit the wall in my Anatomy and Physiology class. I’m glad I dropped it and took it over the summer as a stand alone course. Last spring, I was in a computer class that met twice a week for an hour and a half. The exact same class was taught on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for an hour. So I negotiated with the teacher to take the hour class and then go right into the computer lab so I could start applying what I learned right away. I needed to do that in order to be successful.
One of the dramatic differences for me is the way I used to run my life. Everything was always scheduled out each hour of the day. Now with my brain injury, I can’t do that. If I schedule too many things for one day: overload. I write in my calendar the important things that are due and it details all the important things I must do. I carry it with me and I look at it everyday. If I don’t look at it multiple times during the day, I miss things. Once is not enough. It doesn’t register.
THE BENEFITS OF ASKING FOR HELP
I used to do everything all myself. Independence. I didn’t need anybody else’s help. Now my lesson is learning how to work with other people to get a good end result. A challenge is to realize I can’t figure this out, I am stuck and I need some help. I am learning it is okay to ask for help and the amazing thing is that I never get turned down. The response that comes back is workable, doable, a way for the results to be achieved.
Interacting with other people, you realize that everyone has a unique story. It fosters more courage within me to reach out a little more, to interact to a greater degree. Other people are struggling too. I’m not the only one finding this experience to be hard. It makes a difference when we share our short-comings and find news ways to achieve success. The end result of asking for help is that it helps everybody.
BEING EMOTIONALLY ALIVE
Two weekends ago I went to the Martin Luther King summit. I found the application in my book bag. It occurred to me somebody wants ME to go. When I found out I could go, I got kind of sick. My body was expressing my fear. This is two days and nights of events and sleeping in a cabin with other students. I am 42 and they would be about 18. I wouldn’t know anybody. Yet it was time to start pushing into my fears. The logic reasoning side told me all the reasons why not to do this. My heart said this is for you, fill the paper out and send it in. I am learning more and more to honor the heart felt sensation.
The greatest benefit and growth will happen if I press into my fears. My natural inclination is not to go there. I have built the wall so thick and high, I am perfectly safe. But the fort is built on fear. One of my lessons is that I need to take it down. I am learning to understand my fears, honestly assess them, and move towards them. I am opening up my emotional spectrum. I am ready and willing to have the full experience of being here.
I was so emotionally dead before the head injury. I protected myself from everything. I either engaged in something my way or not at all. Some of the things I do now, I would never have attempted. It causes me to wonder: is there a grander picture to the whole thing? I am more present in the present moment. I notice how I am feeling and I respond to those feelings. I am discovering the part of me I never knew before. I am more emotionally alive.
FUTURE GOALS
Prior to my accident, I bicycle-toured in Europe, Asia, New Zealand, and North America for fourteen months. I can see myself in the future with another adult taking a small group of children and adults with bikes and tents and going to Europe. Europe is very bike friendly. I want to share this type of experience with people. Everyday, needing to figuring it out and doing whatever needs to be done. What are the obstacles here, what are the possibilities? Adapting as necessary, adjusting, learning, growing and recognizing it is always doable. Maybe not doable in the way you thought or originally anticipated but actually doing it. Learning through first hand experience and being able to say, “I did it”!
One of the challenges with a brain injury is that nothing is obvious right away. It took me a long time, and it is still happening, to see what is missing, what is different. It can be very frustrating and saddening. I have not gotten to the point yet where I have fully thought about it. My concept of disability will continue to grow and be enhanced as I better understand myself.
Our brains are like libraries. Everything is organized and easy to find because it is all referenced. Except my library (in my head), someone tipped over. The book is in there, but you don’t know where it is because everything is all scattered. Sometimes I can’t find the one I am looking for or it takes me hours to find it. There is a great amount of frustration for me when that happens. In class sometimes, one thing is happening and I am talking about another thing that is happening. It is totally different. People are like, where are you? It makes it more challenging for me. I just need to honor and respect my brain when it is out of sync and not close down. I don’t want to not say something because I am not sure if what I am going to say is on the right path. I just need to express to the best of my ability.
RETURNING TO SCHOOL WITH A HEAD INJURY
I am learning how to be a student again. It is not coming naturally. A lot of energy and effort is going in to try to figure it out. My reference points aren’t valid anymore. Before my brain injury, I could tell you how much time I was going to put into an assignment, when I would start, and when I would be done. I could predict it all for you and it would come true, guaranteed. Now the challenge for me is I can try to predict it but my ability to get that outcome is very discouraging. I realize it is a process. I’m learning new ways to accomplish the same tasks. There is definite progress. As long as I stay committed and I don’t give up, I know it is doable. I am confident that I will succeed. I will do whatever I need to do. I get an “A” in confidence!
CHOOSING A CAREER PATH
Six months after my head injury, I went to Vocational Rehabilitation in Portsmouth. They gave me many tests which gave me ideas of what jobs I would be good at and interested in. The jobs were all people related: Teaching, Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, Recreational Therapy. I love recreation. I went to talk with someone who was doing Recreational Therapy. I visited UNH and they teach it here. The pieces started to come together. It made sense to me. Then I went on vacation in Canada with a friend. He knew I was looking at my options. One night he looked in my eyes and said, “You need to make decision, a commitment, and you need to do it now”. He was right. The next morning I said, “I am going to become a Recreational Therapist”. Had I done nothing, nothing would have happened.
STATEGIES
Before the semester even starts, I approach my teachers and introduce myself and explain my situation. I am laying the groundwork for my success. I feel really good about that because I start the process: start early, tell the truth, and ask for help if necessary. I have taken three classes successfully during a semester, that’s a full load to me. What I can’t anticipate is the amount of effort for a particular class until I’m in it.
A couple of times I have gotten in over my head. I have faced my short comings and taken corrective action. Last fall semester, I almost hit the wall in my Anatomy and Physiology class. I’m glad I dropped it and took it over the summer as a stand alone course. Last spring, I was in a computer class that met twice a week for an hour and a half. The exact same class was taught on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for an hour. So I negotiated with the teacher to take the hour class and then go right into the computer lab so I could start applying what I learned right away. I needed to do that in order to be successful.
One of the dramatic differences for me is the way I used to run my life. Everything was always scheduled out each hour of the day. Now with my brain injury, I can’t do that. If I schedule too many things for one day: overload. I write in my calendar the important things that are due and it details all the important things I must do. I carry it with me and I look at it everyday. If I don’t look at it multiple times during the day, I miss things. Once is not enough. It doesn’t register.
THE BENEFITS OF ASKING FOR HELP
I used to do everything all myself. Independence. I didn’t need anybody else’s help. Now my lesson is learning how to work with other people to get a good end result. A challenge is to realize I can’t figure this out, I am stuck and I need some help. I am learning it is okay to ask for help and the amazing thing is that I never get turned down. The response that comes back is workable, doable, a way for the results to be achieved.
Interacting with other people, you realize that everyone has a unique story. It fosters more courage within me to reach out a little more, to interact to a greater degree. Other people are struggling too. I’m not the only one finding this experience to be hard. It makes a difference when we share our short-comings and find news ways to achieve success. The end result of asking for help is that it helps everybody.
BEING EMOTIONALLY ALIVE
Two weekends ago I went to the Martin Luther King summit. I found the application in my book bag. It occurred to me somebody wants ME to go. When I found out I could go, I got kind of sick. My body was expressing my fear. This is two days and nights of events and sleeping in a cabin with other students. I am 42 and they would be about 18. I wouldn’t know anybody. Yet it was time to start pushing into my fears. The logic reasoning side told me all the reasons why not to do this. My heart said this is for you, fill the paper out and send it in. I am learning more and more to honor the heart felt sensation.
The greatest benefit and growth will happen if I press into my fears. My natural inclination is not to go there. I have built the wall so thick and high, I am perfectly safe. But the fort is built on fear. One of my lessons is that I need to take it down. I am learning to understand my fears, honestly assess them, and move towards them. I am opening up my emotional spectrum. I am ready and willing to have the full experience of being here.
I was so emotionally dead before the head injury. I protected myself from everything. I either engaged in something my way or not at all. Some of the things I do now, I would never have attempted. It causes me to wonder: is there a grander picture to the whole thing? I am more present in the present moment. I notice how I am feeling and I respond to those feelings. I am discovering the part of me I never knew before. I am more emotionally alive.
FUTURE GOALS
Prior to my accident, I bicycle-toured in Europe, Asia, New Zealand, and North America for fourteen months. I can see myself in the future with another adult taking a small group of children and adults with bikes and tents and going to Europe. Europe is very bike friendly. I want to share this type of experience with people. Everyday, needing to figuring it out and doing whatever needs to be done. What are the obstacles here, what are the possibilities? Adapting as necessary, adjusting, learning, growing and recognizing it is always doable. Maybe not doable in the way you thought or originally anticipated but actually doing it. Learning through first hand experience and being able to say, “I did it”!