TBI: Angela’s Story Part Three

TBI Starts in an Instant

The events leading up to the TBI caused by a car wreck:  It is a quick stop at Wal-Mart before work on June 19;  the next recollection it is 4th of July, Angela’s sister is calling, wondering why she has missed the family barbecue.  Two full weeks between, no clear memory, despite verifiable purposeful activity during the interim. Angela had been hospitalized, been to doctors, accurately recounted past and present medical history, had managed her self care in between.  The medical records leave no doubt about the  10-15 minutes of retrograde amnesia, caused by the TBI, of the  events before the accident.  It is harder to verify but there was likely two weeks of post-traumatic amnesia caused by the TBI.  In between, a life-changing car wreck.

When Angela left the Wal-Mart parking lot, she was just a minute from her office, in clear sight of the building, proceeding straight through a stoplight.  The other driver, the driver of the panel truck full of water restoration equipment was on his cell phone, talking to the driver of the truck behind him, making sure he noticed the Dodge Viper that was making a right turn, while he was turning left.  Below are the accident scene pictures with the narration of 911 calls for this emergency.

A second’s carelessness, a life left a mess.  This page is not about the wrongdoers, although much could be said about the bad mix between trucks and cell phone use.  This page is about what happened as a result of that mistake, assessing TBI, permanent brain damage to a marvelous person who was left to struggle to find the pieces of who she was.

For Part Four of Angela’s Story, click here.