TBI – Survivors, Caregivers, Family, and Friends

Posts tagged ‘“Prisoner Without Bars: A Caregiver’s Story”’

SPEAK OUT! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Faces of Brain Injury . . . Alexis Turcotte

SPEAK OUT! Faces of Brain Injury – Alexis Turcotte

presented by

Donna O’Donnell Figurski

 Brain Injury is NOT Discriminating!

bigstock-cartoon-face-vector-people-25671746-e1348136261718

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.

0092415 Alexis Turcotte Survivor 1Alexis Turcotte (survivor)

So many people ask me how I can be so positive after all that I’ve been through. Well, the answer is that I’m not going to dwell on the crash. I don’t say, “I almost died, so I’m going to sit here and be worthless.” Instead, I’m going to show that I’m better than all the labels I’ve been given. So many people have said, “Oh well, since your hospital papers say … then you can’t do ….” My response has always been, “Can I please prove you wrong before you say I can’t do it?” I make an effort to change the negative to a positive. Why? Because there’s so much to be positive about – so much to be grateful for.

092415 Alexis Turcotte Survivor 2
For crying out loud, I was given a second chance to live! The crash happened two days after my birthday. (One photo is from my birthday. I’m uninjured. The other is of me in the hospital in a coma.) I was in the passenger seat of the vehicle. The firefighters had to cut the door off to get to me, since I was unconscious at the scene. My skull was fractured in two places; my left foot was shattered; my left leg was broken in half (the bone was sticking out); and my nose, jaw, left shoulder, and pelvis were broken. The firefighters were told that I wouldn’t make it. The crash happened September 20, 2014. I awakened from the coma in late October, and I left the hospital on December 4.
I was told by doctors not to return to school, but I wanted to go back. I did return on January 5. I continued my courses, including my college-prep course and my two AP (advanced placement) courses. I earned As in all but one of my courses. I was also told that I wouldn’t graduate on time, but I pushed myself to do so with hours of online schooling to make up for the semester of school I missed. I wanted to show that, just because I have a label, I’m not a nothing.
I am good now. I’m still in pain due to the screws restricting my foot, but soon my doctor will remove them. Then I should be able to work out and run again. I also want to return to my team in girls’ flag football. (My coach will only allow me to play if I get written consent from my doctor and a parent. My doctor said I should be OK to play in six months.)

11734112_1057605137584263_505801146_oMy story shows that miracles do happen.

(Clip Art compliments of Bing.)

(Photos compliments of contributor.)

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Category:

Faces of Brain Injury

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On The Air: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Brain Injury Radio “Another Fork in the Road” Janiece Naber Martindale “Caregivers Need Care Too”

On The Air: Brain Injury Radio “Another Fork in the Road” 

with

Janiece Naber Martindale

Topic: Caregivers Need Care Too

presented

by

Donna O’Donnell Figurski

Martindale, Janiece NaberJaniece Naber Martindale knows a lot about caregiving. She is a two-time caregiver – first for her husband, then for an elderly friend. Janiece says that her caregiving responsibilities were very different for each person. Janiece and I examined what it takes to be a good caregiver.

If you missed this show, “Caregivers Need Care Too” on “Another Fork in the Road” with Janiece Naber Martindale anoon September 20, 2015 don’t fret. You can listen to the archived show here. Click the link below.

See you “On the Air!”

On The Air: Brain Injury Radio “Another Fork in the Road” with Janiece Naber Martindale: “Caregivers Need Care Too”

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As I say after each post: Please leave a comment by clicking the blue words “Leave a Comment”anim0014-1_e0-1 below this post.

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On the Air!

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Thank you, WORLD!

Thank You, World

by

Donna O’Donnell Figurski

blogI started my blog, “Surviving Traumatic Brain Injury,” in March 2014 when I saw a need to connect with other survivors and caregivers in the brain-injured community. I saw people struggling as I had as I tried to make sense out of this new life that visited us when my husband had his brain injury in 2005. At that time, I had no community to turn to. There were no social media. I felt lost and alone. I didn’t know there were other people living with many of the same problems that we were battling. But now, because of the rise of social media, there are many places for people to find information about brain injury, and I wanted to be one of those places.

In the more than ten years that my husband, David, has lived the brain-injured life, I have learned a lot, and I want to share my information with newcomers to this unexpected life. I want to provide a place where they can go to obtain information, but mostly I want to provide survivors and caregivers a platform to SPEAK OUT! I want them to share their stories and their thopinions, and I want others to draw hope and courage and inspiration from those who are traveling a similar path.

This page was created to say THANK YOU to the survivors and caregivers who have so graciously shared their stories here with the hope of raising awareness of brain injury.

It was created to say THANK YOU to everyone in the WORLD who stops by to read it. In the year and a half since I created my blog, thousands of folks have stopped by from all over the world (nearly 50,000 at this point).Thank-you-post-it
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(Clip Art compliments of Bing.)

As I say after each post: Please leave a comment by clicking the blue words “Leave a Comment”anim0014-1_e0-1 below this post.

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Category:

Thank You, WORLD!

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On the Air . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Brain Injury Radio “Another Fork in the Road”  “Where Have All My Friends Gone?”

On The Air: Brain Injury Radio “Another Fork in the Road” 

with

Panelists: Caregiver, Lisabeth Mackall and Survivor Troop, Juliet Madsen

Topic: Where Have All My Friends Gone?

presented

by

Donna O’Donnell Figurski

Mackall, Lisabeth with Book

Lisabeth Mackall joined other caregivers when her husband and police officer, Frank, was in a serious car accident on the way to an emergency call. The accident left him with a brain injury.

Juliet Madsen Uniform

Troop, Juliet Madsen, got her brain injury while serving her country in Iraq. Juliet is a member of the Board of Directors of R4 Alliance and is a master quilter. You can see some of her work at “Stroke of Luck Quilting.”

Losing relationships, both family and friends, is a common result of brain injury and it is devastating to survivors and their caregivers, as well. Troop and survivor, Juliet Madsen, and Lisabeth Mackall, therapist and caregiver for her husband, join me to discuss the topic of “Where Have All My Friends Gone.” We’ll examine the reasons why some people just can’t stick it out and try to shed some light on how folks can keep their relationships alive with their brain-injured friends.

If you missed this show on “Another Fork in the Road” on September6th, 2015, don’t fret. You can listen to the archived show here. Click the link below.

See you “On the Air!”

On The Air: Brain Injury Radio “Another Fork in the Road” Where Did All My Friends Go? with panelists, Caregiver, Lisabeth Mackall and Survivor Troop, Juliet Madsen

(Clip Art compliments of Bing.)

As I say after each post: Please leave a comment by clicking the blue words “Leave a Comment”anim0014-1_e0-1 below this post.

Feel free to follow my blog. Click on “Follow” on the upper right sidebar.

If you like my blog, share it with your friends. It’s easy! Click the “Share” buttons below.

If you don’t like my blog, “Share” it with your enemies. I don’t care!

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Category:

On the Air!

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SPEAK OUT! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Faces of Brain Injury . . . Marc Tima

SPEAK OUT! Faces of Brain Injury – Marc Tima

presented by

Donna O’Donnell Figurski

 Brain Injury is NOT Discriminating!

bigstock-cartoon-face-vector-people-25671746-e1348136261718

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.

Marc Tima (survivor)

Marc Tima 1 Survivor 090715Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a crazy, life-changing event. When I was fourteen years old, I was in a pretty bad car accident, in which I suffered a TBI. I was life-flighted to Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh. I was in a coma for about three weeks. My doctors prepared my parents for my remaining in a vegetative state. God, my family, and I had other plans. At one point, the doctor told my parents that if she were a betting woman, she would not bet on my chances. My mother was in tears and began to weep. My father, on the other hand, said, “I’ll take that bet, and my son will prove you wrong.”

I spent three months in the Rehabilitation Institute of Pittsburgh. After my rehab, I was barely able to start my tenth-grade year of high school. Instead of getting As and Bs like I used to, I scraped by with Cs and Ds. During my coma, my entire body atrophied. Instead of being a top football and basketball player, I was made a team manager for football and basketball. I spent much of high school crying because of my shortcomings. But, I cried to myself in my room. I also spent every free second I had working out and getting stronger. By my junior year, I was able to get back on the football team. My coaches were worried about my getting injured again, so they would not let me play in the varsity games. I spent my eleventh-grade football career on the scrub team. During practice, I would outplay all the seniors who were able to play varsity. My grades were still very poor, but my short-term memory was improving little by little. By the time I was a senior, I was a starter for football and a top defensive player in western Pennsylvania. My grades were still poor, but they were improving. I got recruited to play football for Duquesne University. Though my high school grades were poor, they let me into Duquesne Marc Tima 2 Survivor 090715because of my football and some heavy pleading from my mother.

Anyway, the hits in college football were too hard for my head. So, I had to give up football. I stayed at Duquesne, though, and earned my degree. I worked extremely hard in high school to earn Cs and Ds. At Duquesne, I worked just as hard, but now I was getting As and Bs. In fact, when I graduated from Duquesne on the Dean’s List, my parents contacted that doctor who bet against my father on my recovery. He showed her my academic record at Duquesne. And, she took my parents out to dinner as payment for losing the bet she made with my dad.

I now have a Master’s degree in Exercise Science, own an “Anytime Fitness” in Ohio, and am a personal trainer. Several of my clients are TBI survivors, whom I help with their recoveries.

(Clip Art compliments of Bing.)

(Photos compliments of contributor.)

As I say after each post: Please leave a comment by clicking the blue words “Leave a Comment”anim0014-1_e0-1 below this post.

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Category:

Faces of Brain Injury

Tagged with:

Survivors SPEAK OUT! . . . . . . Anonymous

Survivors  SPEAK OUT! – Anonymous

(survivor requested anonymity for personal reasons)

presented by

Donna O’Donnell Figurski

th-11. What is your name? (last name optional)

Anonymous

2. Where do you live? (city and/or state and/or country) Email (optional)

Ohio, USA

3. On what date did you have your brain injury? At what age?

I was 28 years old.

4. How did your brain injury occur?

My ex-boyfriend pushed me over a balcony, and I hit my head on concrete.

5. When did you (or someone) first realize you had a problem?

People called 9-1-1, so it was within a few minutes.

6. What kind of emergency treatment, if any, did you have?

I had two craniotomies (removal of part of the skull to expose the brain). A pic line (also “picc line,” peripherally inserted central catheter) was added in my arm. I had a G-PEG (gastric tube inserted by percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy; the tube leads directly to the stomach and allows direct feeding).

7. Were you in a coma? If so, how long?

I was in a coma for four days. The coma was medically induced.

8. Did you do rehab? What kind of rehab (i.e., inpatient or outpatient and occupational and/or physical and/or speech and/or other)?

I had occupational, physical, and speech therapies.

How long were you in rehab?

I did six weeks of inpatient therapy, followed by ten months of outpatient therapy.

9. What problems or disabilities, if any, resulted from your brain injury
(e.g., balance, perception, personality, etc.)?

I’m half deaf. I have problems with muscle weakness, memory loss, double vision, balance, discoordination, and loss of the brain’s executive function.

10. How has your life changed? Is it better? Is it worse?

My life is better now. I’m more loving to my family and my son. It seemed impossible at the time – I thought I’d be crippled.

11. What do you miss the most from your pre-brain-injury life?

I was in college to be an RN. At the time, I already had a good job helping people with their everyday needs.

12. What do you enjoy most in your post-brain-injury life?

I have a new appreciation for life. I know that life can end at any time, so I cherish each day. I don’t drink anymore. Therefore, I can now provide my son with whatever he needs.

13. What do you like least about your brain injury?Brain Street Sign th

I dislike forgetting words and names. I have a hard time with what I want to say to people. Often, I have short-term and long-term memory loss. Those things can be the hardest.

14. Has anything helped you to accept your brain injury?

My son and my family have helped me to accept my new changes by being caring and patient.

15. Has your injury affected your home life and relationships and, if so, how?

My brain injury has affected my home life by my having to find new ways to get around things. I have also learned that, while a relationship would be nice, I don’t have to be in one.

16. Has your social life been altered or changed and, if so, how?

My social life is now limited to walking in my small town and the occasional visit to the grocery store or department store to get only what I need

17. Who is your main caregiver? Do you understand what it takes to be a caregiver?

My mom is my main caregiver. She handles all of my finances, plus she’s been an Occupational Therapist for over twenty years.

18. What are your plans? What do you expect/hope to be doing ten years from now?

I would like to continue talking to people about the effects of alcohol, the effects of abuse, and how we can change all of that.

19. Are you able to provide a helpful hint that may have taken you a long time to learn, but which you wished you had known earlier? If so, please state what it is to potentially help other survivors with your specific kind of brain injury.

I wish I would’ve known what real abuse is – not only the physical aspects, but emotional and psychological abuses as well. Had I been aware of those, I would not have been injured in a way that completely altered my life.

Plus, let it be noted that no two traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) are ever the same.

20. What advice would you offer to other brain-injury survivors? Do you have any other comments that you would like to add?

I am a TBI survivor. We are all TBI survivors in our own ways. We don’t need to be in abusive relationships; we deserve all of the care in the world. My advice – don’t become a statistic of horrible abuse that could harm you. Everyone has the capacity to be stronger. I realize that now, and I hope that everyone does.

 

(Disclaimer: The views or opinions in this post are solely that of the interviewee.)

If you would like to be a part of the SPEAK OUT! project, please go to TBI Survivor Interview Questionnaire for a copy of the questions and the release form.

(Clip Art compliments of Bing.)

As I say after each post: Please leave a comment by clicking the blue words “Leave a Comment”anim0014-1_e0-1 below this post.

Feel free to follow my blog. Click on “Follow” on the upper right sidebar.

If you like my blog, share it with your friends. It’s easy! Click the “Share” buttons below.

If you don’t like my blog, “Share” it with your enemies. I don’t care!

Feel free to “Like” my post.

Category:

Survivors SPEAK OUT!

Tagged with:

SPEAK OUT! NewsBit . . . . . . . . . . “Concussion” Movie Based on True Story – (trailer)

“Concussion” Movie Based on True Story – (trailer)

starring Will Smith

presented by

Donna O’Donnell Figurski

newsboy-thAmerica loves football, but the National Football League (NFL) fears a new movie that will be released on December 25, 2015. Team owners in the NFL are already preparing their responses to the movie, “Concussion.”will-smith-concussion-01-600x350

There are a lot people who believe that football cannot survive, including George Visger, a former NFL defensive lineman for the San Francisco 49ers. His comments can be heard in my interview of him two weeks ago during my radio show, “Another Fork in the Road,” on the Brain Injury Radio Network. A rookie linebacker in the NFL resigned after one year of play over fear of brain injury. Already there is a 2.2% decline in participation in high school football, including an even higher rate of decline in Texas, which has led the nation in football players for two decades. One elementary school banned tackling and instituted flag football, to no objections. As more and more parents become aware of the risk of contact sports to the human brain (some will because of this movie), the rate of decline in youth football will increase, and the pool of talented NFL-bound athletes will get smaller. (Full story and trailer)

(Clip Art compliments of Bing.)

As I say after each post:

Please leave a comment by clicking the blue words “Leave a Comment” below this post.anim0014-1_e0-1

Feel free to follow my blog. Click on “Follow” on the upper right sidebar.

If you like my blog, share it with your friends. It’s easy! Click the “Share” buttons below.

If you don’t like my blog, “Share” it with your enemies. I don’t care!

Feel free to “Like” my post.

Category:

NewsBits

Tagged with:

SPEAK OUT! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Faces of Brain Injury . . . . . . . . . Shanna Wolf Heart Powell

SPEAK OUT! Faces of Brain Injury – Shanna Wolf Heart Powell

presented by

Donna O’Donnell Figurski

 Brain Injury is NOT Discriminating!

bigstock-cartoon-face-vector-people-25671746-e1348136261718

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.

Shanna Wolf Heart Powell (survivor)

Powell, Shanna Wolf Heart Survivor 062715 3This was me three years ago. I was in this truck when it flipped and rolled at 60 mph. I had a shattered face and a shattered shoulder. And, I spent some time in a coma. This was the final nail – the one that pushed my PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) into full mode and gave me a TBI (traumatic brain injury). I am not the same me. I am the “new” me. God chose me to still be here. I see it too many times – people are in wrecks and they don’t make it. Powell, Shanna Wolf Heart Survivor 062715 2My survival just makes me even more thankful. (I now make a horrible passenger, as every time the driver swerves, a car looks like it’s going to hit us, or it appears that it is not going to stop, I freak out.) I forget things a lot. I loose what I am saying in the middle of a conversation. I get flustered easily. I have many depressed days and cannot do all the things I used to. I panic for people when I see them getting flown by Care Flight (as I was a “passenger” once). All I can do is say, “God, please help them.”

One day, I had taken my boys to a hospital’s Emergency Room for something, and they wheeled a trauma patient past us. Covered in blood, she was badly hurt from an automobile accident. She was screaming, confused, and scared. They were taking her out to put her on Care Flight. I cried for her and panicked. That was one of the first-known PTSD triggers for me. I have no recollection of the wreck that almost killed me. But, I relived a horrible moment in my life through her. I could only imagine what it was like for me.

Those who care enough to read through my story will read this and then go on with life. But, I live this every day. My TBI (though not as bad as some, and for that I say, “Thank you, God”), my PTSD, and my bipolar disorder will never go away. So, I just have to live with them every day. I cannot do a simple task without issues. For example, I may not understand things when I go to places, like the cell phone store. I don’t understand how to put the airtime cards in my new phone. Instead of telling the clerk, “I have a TBI and don’t understand,” I just say, “Oh, OK.” 😦

Almost every day, something triggers my PTSD, and I fight to stay afloat. People say, “Get over it.” 😦 There is no getting over it! It’s not an easy battle, so please do not tell me to “get over it.” I have lost the memory of a lot of things in my life. I may forget things you just told me. I get confused to the point that I just say, “Forget it. If you try to explain any further, I will just get mad because I don’t get it.” And, I have no filter. I tend to say what I think. So, if I say something and it offends you, move along or unfriend me. It’s not personal.

Powell, Shanna Wolf Heart Survivor 062715 1So “Happy Three-Year Survival” to me! This is why I’m getting the “;” tattoo. And, my story is not over.

To those who think I am stupid and annoying, “Please don’t let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya.” And, to those who stayed by my side, stayed my friends, or have become my new friends – “Thank you! Love to all!”

(Clip Art compliments of Bing.)

(Photos compliments of contributor.)

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SPEAK OUT! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Guest Blogger: Sue Hannah “Different Path”

A Different Path

by

Sue Hannah

presented by

Donna O’Donnell Figurski

Girl Blogger cartoon_picture_of_girl_writingMy traumatic-brain-injury story is different from some. I didn’t have a wonderful life that suddenly was transformed by tragedy. I had violence in my early life that forever changed me. Because no one spoke of my damage or the violence that caused it, decades passed until I was finally able to understand what had happened. In the meantime, I spent years painfully searching for an answer. I wanted to know why my handwriting was not only not neat, but how it seemed regressed to an age much earlier than my actual age. I sought to understand why spatial concepts were so difficult for me to comprehend. I yearned to know why colors and patterns made me sick to my stomach and why motion sickness affected me in vehicles, rides, and even something as gentle as a swing. After years of doctor visits, neuropsychological testing, therapists, alternative practitioners, and even nutritionists, I finally found an answer.

My first experience with vision therapy was helpful and did improve my handwriting, but it did not eliminate my issues. Syntonics (phototherapy) and prism glasses made huge differences in my life! My spatial orientation changed dramatically, my coordination improved, and even my tolerance for colors and patterns improved. I had no idea how powerful the visual system was or how Sue Hannahmuch of the brain was involved in causing my visual system to fully function. My traumatic brain injury (TBI) had done damage to areas of my visual system, which cascaded into my motor functioning as well as into my proprioception and tactile senses. Syntonics, or light therapy, gently and consistently shifted, and continues to shift, major obstacles for me. There are many optometrists in the US who do vision therapy, but I’d like to think mine is someone quite special. Her down-to-earth manner and genuine kindness radiate to her patients, as well as to her team of professionals in her office. Dr. Amy Thomas, located in Tucson, Arizona, has shown me amazing paths to my healing. She would never choose to take credit for healing anyone. She would, I believe, be willing to accept responsibility for helping patients heal themselves.

For the neuro-typical people of the world, let me say that few things are more annoying to lots of us with TBI than the following: “You don’t look like you’re brain damaged. You seem so normal. I know exactly how you feel.” Um, no you don’t! Everyone’s walk with TBI is a unique one, in my opinion. I had doctor after doctor tell me that my sensitivity was something I just needed to get over and deal with if I were to get along in life. My teeth still grate over that one! The reluctance of so much of our society to acknowledge sensitivity, neurological challenges, intensity, and deep emotions pains me. There are times for me when even sunlight can cause a round of irritability or other intense emotions. Medical professionals who discount the feelings and experiences of their patients are missing a huge amount of information that, if they allowed, could change their practices.

Hannah, Sue 2My life-path has not been easy, but it has caused me to not take little things for granted. I lost the ability to drive for a brief time, and, because of my new therapies, I am slowly getting my independence back. It’s interesting to note that as we get more reflective, we often begin to see what is most important to us. One of my strongest passions is to never give up. I was determined to find an answer to what happened to me and, even more so, to improve the quality of my day-to-day life. The second is one I continue to pursue. On days that seem filled with grief and loneliness, I remember that there are still wonderful people in the world. For me, these people have helped me to get up when I fall and to remember that tomorrow is another day.

To learn more about Sue, please visit her website/blog at Platypus Expressions.

Thank you, Sue Hannah.

Disclaimer:
Any views and opinions of the Guest Blogger are purely his/her own.

(Clip Art compliments of Bing.)

(Photos compliments of Sue Hannah)

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SPEAK OUT! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Itty-Bitty GIANT Steps

SPEAK OUT! Itty-Bitty GIANT Steps

presented by

Donna O’Donnell Figurski

Itty-Bitty GIant Steps for BlogSPEAK OUT! Itty-Bitty Giant Steps will provide a venue for brain-injury survivors and caregivers to shout out their accomplishments of the week.

If you have an Itty-Bitty Giant Step and you would like to share it, just send an email to me at neelyf@aol.com.

If you are on Facebook, you can simply send a Private Message to me. It need only be a sentence or two. I’ll gather the accomplishments and post them with your name on my blog approximately once a week. (If you do not want your last name to be posted, please tell me in your email or Private Message.)

I hope we have millions of Itty-Bitty Giant Steps.

Here is this week’s Itty-Bitty GIANT Step

Debbie M. Wilson (survivor)…I want you to know that there really is a pay-off for living, and I really did get there. I was able to go by myself and navigate public transportation alone for the first time in 24 years. I did not have a seizure-alert dog or a thcaregiver. I am more thrilled than anyone can possibly imagine! I had hoped, I had prayed, and I did dare to dream. My dream became a reality. I am not just seizure-free, but I now have the cognition to be safe, alone, for the first time. Miracles really do happen in this lifetime and in this world!

YOU did it!

Congratulations to contributor!

(Clip Art compliments of Bing.)

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