Name: Cheri M.

City: Anchorage

Brain Injury: TBI – Repeated car accidents visual/ perceptual damage, chronic vertigo, aphasia; memory loss

Explanation of Mask: How to describe what it’s like to live in a world where almost every visual stimulus is an attack – running the gamut from mildly disturbing to dropping me to the floor in a state of overwhelmed vertigo and confusion. The aphasia? Well sometimes it’s just plain funny. Remember – an eggplant is NOT an elephant. The memory loss = scary. My ace in the hole –> MY FAMILY. Which mostly understands; always supports; never fails to make the joke about how absurd life can be. Above all – it’s exhausting.