Name: Jennifer T.

City: Phoenix, AZ

Brain Injury: TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY (TBI), DIFFUSE AXONAL INJURY. I was in a car collision. A distracted driver in full-size work truck ran a red light and broad sided me in an intersection. I don’t remember it.

Explanation of mask:  Two months before the accident I had just landed my dream job in Phoenix. I was excited, happy, and shiny. The bottom of the mask represents how I was before my brain injury. The jagged black line is how I felt picking up the pieces after the split second that CHANGED EVERYTHING. It was like everything that was me was ripped away. Once the dark time faded and I began to understand my injury and get the cognitive therapy I needed, I gradually started to get better. The faded colors represent the seven-year journey of healing and the top of the mask is how I am today. I try not to focus on the things my brain still has GLITCHES with like noise, reading maps, and finding the right words when I am tired. I work around the glitches. Today I am a different shade of me!