Indiana BIA Hotline:866-854-4246 or North Central Indiana BIA Chaplain:765-675-6370

Voice For A New Beginning By Mark Porman Now it is time for me to lament the passage of time… time has passed & I have not forgotten my fellow brain injury support group member, artist, & my friend…The late Clifford Sparling, who passed away last year. Clifford was a good man & enjoyed by his friends as friendly, fun, & a talented man. Clifford’s brain injury was too much for him on many occasions & we talked frequently talked about this in private over a cup of coffee. That’s the great thing about friends & the support group--someone is there to listen, help, or find someone who can. However, Clifford must have had a difficult time alone & was deluded in his thinking, that this was his only way out (of dealing with & living with life & his brain injury) making it all go away. You do not face this brain injury issue alone. Whether the issue is frustration, depression, lack of sleep, or on-going medication problems. Despite your feelings of loneliness, lack of friends or family members you do not have to face the challenges of life alone. Life can be daunting & far to overwhelming if we choose to go it alone. Life is still a worthwhile event, just give it & other people a chance to be in your life. Finding friends is not easy for anyone & brain injury can seem overwhelming, uncomfortable or cause you to feel self-conscious, but if you give people a chance, you can find people will except your great new qualities. People can enter our lives at the strangest times & places if we allow ourselves to be open to people who will take the time to find out more about who we are. Finding a friend can mean someone to love life with whether it is in the form of romance, brotherly love-agape, or a work friendship. A friend is someone who is your “wing-man” in good times or bad. A friend is someone you can be available for or with. The Support Group has people who will support you in your good times or bad. Contact: Pres. Russ Ragland or Chaplin, the Rev. Jim for your copy of the member directory ____________________________________________________ Each one of us walks along a road. For we who have suffered a traumatic brain injury, the road becomes longer and much more difficult to walk. It is so hard to explain to others how much of a struggle it is to be on this road, to know that we are in Kokomo, Indiana, but all the signs say “Welcome to New York.” How can we explain to someone the feelings you get when you look in the mirror & you cannot even recognize your own eyes or face. How do you get across to a loved one the true sense of the tiredness we get which seems to defy any rational explanation? As Mark so eloquently reminds us, we not long ago lost one our members, Clifford. We recall that on the night his loss was announced to the group, there was not one single word of condemnation or judgment, & not a single one of us asked why. Because all of us knew why. Nearly every one us at one time or another has known the tiredness & exhaustion which only death itself will quiet. But still we walk along this brain injury road which none of us has chosen. It is at times like these which remind us the importance of our support group. For even though there may be may things different about the paths we each walk, there are also many large similarities. We do not have to be alone in our walk. We know that when we meet there is a level of understanding & support we find nowhere else. When we come to the meeting, we find brothers & sisters who know what it is like to live with a traumatic brain injury. What we find here in a very real sense is the kind of acceptance & support of each other that becomes over time an unconditional love. So often we believe we are alone. We only have our meetings once a month, but thanks to the hard work of many we have a newsletter, a directory of email addresses, phone numbers & a state run phone help-line that we can use to reach out before the tiredness or despair overwhelms us. Next month I will write more about this mysterious unconditional love. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Email your thoughts & questions to: jltucker@insightbb.com _______________________________________________________________ “Wisdom to “Survive” Brain Injury by Members of the North Central BIA “Something you hold dear to your heart you remember.” Sam “You can tell how a man lives his life by the way he plays, with patience, decision making, discipline and identifying & qualifying a situation.” Shane “Positive attitude gets you where you want to be.” Sue “I try to do the best job I can do & that depends on the detail(s) & what I do with that /those.” Kurt “Think about what you’re doing as you do it.” Russ “Dig your heels in the ground & stand firm in your struggle to fight the battle of being brain injured.” TJ “Look forward to the challenge.” Kurt “Nothing is going to keep me down no matter what.” Sam “Enjoy what you’re doing, whatever you’re doing. Use your time to contemplate what you’re doing.” Kurt “Stand up for yourself & be your own health advocate.” Chuck “I can’t go out any old way…Take the task seriously, but enjoy the task.” Sam “What is most important is the planning & follow through with the details, whether the job is complicated or not.” Kurt ____________________________________________________________ June 18, 2007-Meeting Recap submitted by Russ Ragland The Meeting Opened with a prayer by group Chaplain, the Rev. Jim Tucker, that we may continue to help one another on this stressful journey of brain injury. The Greeting followed by President, Russ Ragland to members of BIA and guests & family. The last month’s notes were read by Chuck Onuska and notes approved by Sue Ragland. Business Discussed was the need to appoint a secretary to assist Janalyce Hatton in her responsibilities. Rev. Jim Tucker was nominated & appointed to assist Janalyce. Also discussed was the upcoming Annual Pig Roast at Curt & Barb’s August 18th, 2007 in Macy, Indiana. The drive is somewhat long (40 minutes from Kokomo, IN), it is well worth it for the fellowship, great food, & beautiful breezy location (no matter how hot it is outside). Barb shared her experience traveling to visit her new granddaughter in Oregon. Brain injury has not kept Barb back from taking a plan trip to stay a short time with the new granddaughter. Photos of the trip were shown amidst all the ooohs & ahhhs. The Meeting continued with a discussion of how each member is surviving life with brain injury. The purpose of a BIA Support Group is not a clinical therapy group, but to provide info & support to brain injured & caregivers. Brain injury treatment & rehab depends on medical research, but also the knowledge brain injured & their caregivers can provide to one another. Despite the years with brain injury, many have become mentors and or volunteers to other brain injured or persons in the medical field, all working together for the advancement of brain injury treatment. This includes public awareness of brain injury. The Meeting Closed by Russ Ragland. Snacks by Howard Systems-West Dietary Department.