City: Gamerco/Gallup, NM

Brain Injury: Traumatic Brain Injury. On December 31 1976 at 3:00 am I ran head first into a parked car while on a snowmobile. I sustained a complete skull fracture, broken jaw below the left side of my chin, and rammed my right jaw bone into my right ear canal.

Explanation of Mask: My mask represents all the emotions I have gone through over the last 39 years of my life recovering from my brain injury. The money represents all the wages and productivity I have lost during the first ten years of my brain injury. Since my BI I have found that, unfortunately, services are lacking in NM and all over the US. Brain Injury advocates like myself are working hard to change that. State Representatives like Debra Armstrong (NM) are currently working on legislation to have insurance companies pay for rehabilitation services desperately needed by people with BI to help rebuild their shattered lives. It is important to be able to pay for long term BI rehabilitation we need to be successful in re-entering society and becoming productive members of our communities. Life after BI is difficult but not impossible.