Kimberly’s Story

I was in a car accident and now have a brain injury. It changed everything I do in one day. I enjoyed working, hiking, knitting, spending time with my husband, and raising our daughter. I want to do more to help my husband raise our daughter, but it is hard for me to remember things, and I need help with taking care of myself.

My mask explains how I feel about how my brain injury changed my life. The words on the top of my mask help explain the thoughts I have about my injury. I think about why this happened to me. How resilient I have been in my recovery, and how the hope I have as well as the loving and sweet people around me make my goals possible. The tears on the left side of my mask represent how sad I get that I cannot remember things and how stressful it can be to learn how to do things again. The tears on the right side represent tears of joy and gratitude for my husband who makes me so happy and my daughter that I love so much. The landscape picture reminds me of how much I loved hiking and how much I want to do it again. The word home helps me remember how happy and grateful I am to live with my family. The word concern helps explain that I am worried about losing services that help me to live at home. Gratitude represents how grateful I am for the services I do have so that I can live at home with my family.