Brain Injury

"Don't assume this is a two-hankie book. It is not. You will cry, but you will also laugh. You will experience not only anger, but also gratification. And in the end, you will be uplifted. " - Eileen Rudnick, from her book, "The Glass Between Us" Eldersburg resident Eileen Rudnick is living proof that sometimes out of the worst, the best can come. The evening of Oct. 3, 2000 was just another mild Tuesday, another relatively uneventful day ... until the moment that everything changed for Rudnick, a wife, mother of two, grandmother of two and an accountant.

"Don't assume this is a two-hankie book. It is not. You will cry, but you will also laugh. You will experience not only anger, but also gratification. And in the end, you will be uplifted. " - Eileen Rudnick, from her book, "The Glass Between Us" Eldersburg resident Eileen Rudnick is living proof that sometimes out of the worst, the best can come. The evening of Oct. 3, 2000 was just another mild Tuesday, another relatively uneventful day ... until the moment that everything changed for Rudnick, a wife, mother of two, grandmother of two and an accountant.

Etan Patz, Madeleine McCann, Phylicia Barnes, Jaycee Dugard: four children who were declared missing and whose cases have had different outcomes so far. What knits their families together is that they all experienced loss, though of different types. Etan Patz, missing since 1979, was 6 when he vanished and was declared dead in 2001. A recent search for his remains was started and stopped. Madeleine McCann, presumably abducted at age 3 while on vacation with her parents in Portugal in 2007, may still be alive, according to new police reports.

Etan Patz, Madeleine McCann, Phylicia Barnes, Jaycee Dugard: four children who were declared missing and whose cases have had different outcomes so far. What knits their families together is that they all experienced loss, though of different types. Etan Patz, missing since 1979, was 6 when he vanished and was declared dead in 2001. A recent search for his remains was started and stopped. Madeleine McCann, presumably abducted at age 3 while on vacation with her parents in Portugal in 2007, may still be alive, according to new police reports.

Having survived a subdural hematoma, which occurred in July of 2007, the article about Austin Story's traumatic brain injury was the first thing I read Tuesday morning ("Kids make up largest group with traumatic brain injuries," Nov. 9). Although my profile is very different from Austin's, our trip through recovery is very much the same. These thoughts go out to Austin, his family, and the many others that have experienced a traumatic brain injury: It is a long, strange trip, but the brain is a fluid and amazing organ.

An Iraqi insurgent shot him in the chest. Later, he was wounded in the back in an ambush. But what left this U.S. Marine debilitated, perhaps for life, was a blast-induced, traumatic brain injury that initially went undetected. Advanced body armor is saving our troops' lives, but soldiers have little protection against blast-induced, traumatic brain injury, the "signature injury" in today's wars. There is a need for research that can help reduce such injuries, and Maryland has a unique ability to do it — with additional federal help.

Doctors have called Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' recovery so far nothing short of spectacular. But as she begins rehabilitation at a facility in Houston, many Maryland experts on traumatic brain injury caution that what awaits her is a long, arduous road full of uncertainties. The work of retraining the brain after a severe gunshot wound like the one Giffords sustained two weeks ago can take years, beginning with months of intensive speech, occupational and physical therapy to teach the Arizona congresswoman to master basic functions many of us take for granted: dressing herself, eating and, perhaps, uttering a few words.

Stephanie Strunge recalls the late-night wail of an ambulance siren. Jim Strunge remembers hearing the low-flying helicopter.But the Towson couple never suspected their teen-age son's life was in jeopardy until the phone rang an hour later, triggering every parent's nightmare -- a message that their child was being airlifted to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore."

Thank you for The Sun's recent article on traumatic brain injury ("Brain injury: recovery and a lift of rediscovery," Sept. 19). As medical technology improves, stories like that of Alan Forman will increasingly be the norm, which is a message of hope for the 6,000 Marylanders each year who suffer a traumatic brain injury (TBI). It is important, however, to note that Maryland's funding commitment to persons with TBI has not kept pace with the miracles of technology. Currently, our state's budget includes no line for TBI. Persons injured before the age of 22 may be eligible for funding through the Developmental Disabilities Administration.

The death of 45-year-old Natasha Richardson last week from what had been labeled a "mild brain injury" after a skiing accident has experts in trauma warning the public to take a blow to the head seriously. An autopsy confirmed the actress, who fell on the slopes, died of an epidural hematoma, which is bleeding between the skull and the outer layer that covers the brain called the dura. But doctors not involved in her care noted reports that said she initially refused treatment. It's not possible for those who didn't examine her to say faster treatment would have saved her. And death from such a seemingly minor accident is rare.

Say this much for Roger Goodell: when he sends a message, he sends a message. In fact, the last guy to send a message like this was probably Vito Corleone. The NFL commissioner didn't fool around when disciplining the New Orleans Saints for their infamous "bounty" program. He whacked them good. Saints coach Sean Payton? Suspended without pay for the 2012 season. Saints general manager Mickey Loomis? Suspended without pay for the first eight regular-season games. And you know you're getting the book thrown at you when an assistant coach (Joe Vitt)

I heard the oldies station playing the Bob Dylan tune "The Times They Are a-Changin'," and the famous line could well apply to the seismic cultural change surrounding sports concussions. Not so long ago, the injury was hardly a headliner. A "ding" was almost considered a rite of passage and badge of honor for athletes playing contact sports. Today, concussions are front-page news, the focus of millions of dollars' worth of research and legislative action across the country.

The Ravens confirmed what Tom Zbikowski suggested Saturday by listing the starting strong safety as doubtful for Monday night's game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Coach John Harbaugh said Zbikowski - who has been dogged by symptoms stemming from the concussion he sustained in the Ravens' 17-point win against the New York Jets on Oct. 2 - still has not been cleared for contact. Zbikowski practiced on a limited basis for the second time this week, but he was kept out of all contact drills.

Lonni Sue Johnson spends every spare moment creating word puzzles superimposed on elaborate grids. The moment she puts one down, she starts on the next. In not quite three years, she has amassed a stack of paper that is 15 feet high. Family member say that's how she pins down time. "In order to grasp the present moment before it vanishes from her memory, Lonni Sue urgently writes and draws," says her sister, Aline Johnson. "As she works on her puzzles, her thoughts — which would otherwise be constantly slipping away — are held on the page, where she can build ideas.

The daylong conference Saturday at Johns Hopkins Hospital was held to showcase advances on research into traumatic brain injury. One recurring theme was the devastating toll such injuries have taken on an estimated 200,000 American soldiers wounded by explosions in Iraq and Afghanistan. The PowerPoint-wielding medical specialists had much progress to share. But the extent to which these brain injuries remain a stubborn mystery was highlighted when a doctor who treats soldiers in Fort Drum, N.Y., stepped up to the microphone at Turner Auditorium.

Doctors have called Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' recovery so far nothing short of spectacular. But as she begins rehabilitation at a facility in Houston, many Maryland experts on traumatic brain injury caution that what awaits her is a long, arduous road full of uncertainties. The work of retraining the brain after a severe gunshot wound like the one Giffords sustained two weeks ago can take years, beginning with months of intensive speech, occupational and physical therapy to teach the Arizona congresswoman to master basic functions many of us take for granted: dressing herself, eating and, perhaps, uttering a few words.

WASHINGTON -- President Clinton yesterday signed into law the first federal initiative aimed at helping coma victims, providing millions of dollars to improve research and treatment and putting a national spotlight on brain-injury as a major health problem.Under the Traumatic Brain Injury Act, the federal government will earmark $24.5 million over the next three years to come up with a nationwide plan to deal with the medical needs of the 250,000 Americans each year who suffer severe head injuries.

It was a typical mother-daughter disagreement -- until things went dreadfully wrong. Medrith Filley and her 15-year-old daughter, Heather, were having a heated discussion as they pulled up to their home in Mission Viejo, Calif., one Saturday morning in November 1997. Heather suddenly decided to jump out of the car, and the heel of her shoe caught on the doorjamb, flipping her backward, her head hitting the pavement hard. Filley, a nurse, knew immediately that her daughter's injuries were grave -- her teeth were clenched, a symptom of profound brain injury, and she wasn't breathing.

Having survived a subdural hematoma, which occurred in July of 2007, the article about Austin Story's traumatic brain injury was the first thing I read Tuesday morning ("Kids make up largest group with traumatic brain injuries," Nov. 9). Although my profile is very different from Austin's, our trip through recovery is very much the same. These thoughts go out to Austin, his family, and the many others that have experienced a traumatic brain injury: It is a long, strange trip, but the brain is a fluid and amazing organ.

Austin Story doesn't remember the late-summer outing at a friend's lakefront home in New Jersey, or the rocks he climbed near a waterfall. Or how he lost his footing and, as his horrified mother looked on, fell about 50 feet. The 14-year-old lay motionless with a traumatic brain injury as his father tried to get him off the rocks and find help. Two months later, Austin is still being treated at the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, though he has learned again to walk and talk.