City: Dunn

Brain Injury: Car accident on September 12, 2014.  My car flipped multiple times, and I was found unconscious. 

Explanation of Mask: On top of all the cognitive and emotional impairments, and other hardships, I have experienced, I struggled with getting others to understand my TBI.  If you haven’t personally experienced a brain injury, then you can’t fully comprehend it.  Because people couldn’t fully understand what I was going through, they refused to accept it. I split my mask in half to show how I truly feel on the inside, versus how I feel others see me and expect me to act.  I chose pink because it is my favorite color.  This side represents how I am expected to act and includes the words “expectation, happy, smile, cheerful, and good health”.  The gray side represents how I feel and has the words “reality, depression, memory, headache, dizzy, overwhelmed, anxiety, coping, and pain three times”.  Down the middle of the mask, on both sides I have “you look fine” which is something I’ve heard often.  I am lucky to be alive and stronger than you may think.