City: Joplin

Brain Injury: Auto accident that was not my fault. I was 25 years old and stopped at a stoplight a block from my workplace on my lunchbreak. I was involved in three vehicle crash and caused a walking decapitation.

Explanation of Mask: Yellow around the sides means how miraculous it was that I lived through the accident. X’s over the mouth represent how I have trouble expressing what I am thinking. Jewels around eyes represent I’m still bright and intelligent even though others can’t see it. Sunflower…that I know I’m going to be disabled all my life but I’m always trying to bloom into being as good as I can be. Hello…there are times I feel I hide within myself due to fear that people only see my difficulties and not the person I still am inside – “The old me”.