18 Year Old Brain Injury Survivor: Hearing Her Voice

18 year Old Brain Injury Survivor: Nancy Part Seventeen 

We don’t have to take Nancy’s Mom’s word for it, just watch the YouTube videos of Nancy.  First, it is her fascination with celebrity boys. Hearing Nancy’s 18 year old brain injury survivor’s voice:

What, what kind of things do cause you anxiety and make you nervous as an 18 year old brain injury survivor?  Gets you excited?  

Boys.  Cute guys.  Like, stars sometimes.

So like movie stars.  

Yes.

Who’s your favorite celebrity? 

Joe Jonas.

Who is that? 

He’s, uh, part of my favorite band.

What band is that? 

The Jonas Brothers.

And how old is Joe Jonas?  

Twenty-one.

Tell me about Joe Jonas. 

He was born in August, Arizona, Casa Grande, Arizona on August 15, 1989.  His favorite color is blue, he, his favorite candy is Twix, he, , he’s the goofy one out of the band.

How many people are in the Jonas Brothers? 

Three.

Are they all brothers? 

Yes.  There’s Nick, Kevin and Joe.

Is he the youngest? 

No, that would be Nick.

How old is Nick? 

Twenty.

And the oldest one is how old? 

Twenty-four, that’s Kevin.

What’s your favorite song that they do? 

Oh, “Why”.

What’s that song about? 

Joe’s po’d because Stella won’t come help him do his math homework.  Jonas.

Okay.  You like celebrity boys.  What about boys your own age that you go to school with?

They’re all jerks.

Well, other than the fact that that describes the male gender as a whole, why do you think that boys you got to school with are more jerks that the ones that you see on television? 

Because on television they have a reputation to uphold and they’re trying to look more professional than usual, even if Joe Jonas does go on the internet and dance in a leotard and in high heels to “Single Ladies”.

And you’re very disappointed in him when he does that? 

He’s an idiot.

But you still like him? 

Yeah.

Why don’t you like the boys that you go to school with that are idiots? 

Because they’re not nice to me.  Joe Jonas actually told me he loved me; we went to a concert and he said that himself.

Did you get a chance to meet him?

No, I was kind of grumpy because they didn’t have me read something.  They stood by us for about three minutes and then they left to escape the rush of fans.

How old are most of the fans? 

 10, 12.

Who else do you like? 

Zach Efrom, uh, David Archiletta.  I like Ralph Macchio, when he was little he was really cute.

What movies did you watch him in?

“The Karate Kid”.

At an age that most parents are struggling with the sexuality and drive for independence of their children, Nancy is hanging out at curbside with 10-12 year old girls awaiting a blown kiss from a boy band, with her 18 year old Brain Injury Survivor voice.  No word describes this in the context of a pediatric severe brain injury like my coined term, dyscocious, the mirror image of the “precocious”.  I define the term dyscocious to mean a pathological frontal lobe immaturity where an  18 year old brain injury survivor who has a childlike grasp of mature subject matter.

Next in Part Eighteen – Physical and Neurological Deficits Post Severe Brain Injury

By Attorney Gordon Johnson

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