Neuro Note #1

For this assignment I chose to watch a Ted Talk given by Kevin Pearce, a former professional snowboarder. The name of this talk is 'A brain injury is like a fingerprint, no two are alike.' Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZH7-r1Wy9o . Pearce was on his way to the Vancouver winter olympics with hopes of winning a gold medal. On December 31, 2009 while training, Pearce suffered a traumatic brain injury. For the next 36 days Pearce was in critical care, which he has no memory of to this day. He then spent the next three and a half months in a Denver hospital where he did nothing but dream of returning to snowboarding. When he woke up he could neither walk or talk. The Ted Talk flashes back to Pearce getting rehab during this time and shows him with therapists throwing a ball, learning to walk again, and eventually being discharged. He talks to his doctors about dreaming about returning to snow boarding and his doctors telling him it is too dangerous because he could hit his head. Pearce describes a TBI as like a fingerprint because they are all so different- no TBI is the same. He aknowledges that some things have changed about him since his injury, but his determination and focus is as strong as it has always been. He still has double vision as a result of his injury but works every single day on conquering this. He credits his mom on motivating him to do drivers ed, taking his medicine, and doing his rehab to get him into the state he is today. He is extremely positive and humorous about his injury and recovery process. He says that his focus is no longer on becoming the best snowboarder in the world- it is now living the most mindful and present life possible. Hearing about a TBI from first person experience definitely opened my eyes and taught me a lot more about them. It has been 9 years since Pearce's accident and he still works on skills that he lost due to his accident. He seems very cognitively aware and if I met him I am not sure I would immediately know that he had suffered a TBI.
I decided to chose this specific ted talk to do my neuro note on because I wanted first hand experience on what a TBI is like since this is such a common neurological disorder. It was interesting to me to hear the perspective on such an active person- a professional snowboarder- in terms of coming to grips with his injury. I was so impressed by his positive attitude and spirit throughout this experience and his attitude that he will get better. I learned a lot because of this assignment, especially during the section that showed his rehab experience and his learning to walk and talk again. This assignment further drove home some important characteristics of TBIs- they are most common in males, the leading cause is falls, and the long term effects can be subtle to severe. In Pearce's case the long term effects were more subtle. This ted talk really drove home the point for me that no two diagnosis are similar and they all must be treated as unique. There is not one 'mold' for a TBI that people fit into and this is something important to remember when treating patients.