SPEAK OUT! Faces of Brain Injury – Blaine Stanziana (survivor)
presented
by
Donna O’Donnell Figurski
Brain Injury is NOT Discriminating!
It can happen to anyone, anytime, . . . and anywhere.
The Brain Trauma Foundation states that there are 5.3 million people in the United States living with some form of brain injury.
On “Faces of Brain Injury,” you will meet survivors living with brain injury. I hope that their stories will help you to understand the serious implications and complications of brain injury.
The stories on SPEAK OUT! Faces of Brain Injury are published with the permission of the survivor or designated caregiver.
If you would like your story to be published, please send a short account and two photos to me at neelyf@aol.com. I’d love to publish your story and raise awareness for Brain Injury.
Blaine Stanziana (survivor)
Blaine Stanziana – Brain Injury Survivor
My story begins after a brain injury in 1979 at age 21. I developed epilepsy that went undiagnosed for eleven years. I had over 60,000 complex partial seizures; then I had a grand mal seizure. Falling six feet to a cement floor in 1988, I had a subdural hematoma that caused my second brain injury.
Here is my neck, which was done in 2007.
That’s three inches of bone from my left leg in the center of the sixteen screws. There is hip bone (two inches) in there as well. I was on the table for fourteen hours. I spent five years sleeping in a chair and a year begging for death. I could not talk for over a year because they split my vocal cords. But, I am alive, married for 35 years, and doing great!
Brain Injury Survivor, Blaine Stanziana and his wife
I coined these two sayings over 35 years ago:
“A head injury comes with a life sentence, and the only treatment for a brain injury is … HOPE.” “You cannot be defeated by what happens TO you – only by what happens WITHIN you.”
“It’s All in Your Head” by survivor, Blaine Stanziana
Blaine is the author of “It’s All in Your Head.”
Thank you, Blaine Stanziana, for sharing your story.
(Clip Art compliments of Bing.)
(Photos compliments of contributor.)
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