My husband and I were married a mere fifteen months when he was hit by a car while cycling in our neighborhood. The impact tore his feet from his bicycle where his cleats were clipped in, crushed the driver's windshield, and left him unconscious on the cold November street.
Thankfully, the accident happened a block from the fire station and when the ambulance and fire truck were dispatched, a parade of first-responders ran down the street behind them.
It was Veteran's day, 2010. I was preparing dinner for some of our eight children and a stranger called my cell phone to tell me about the accident. I remember cursing in front of our children and thanked the unknown messenger, grabbed a change of clothes for my husband, and headed for the hospital.
X-rays showed his left elbow was broken. He had torn ligaments in his right foot. The CAT scan showed nothing to be worried about. We went home and I spent the rest of the evening picking glass out of his scalp.
We saw a neurologist the next day who said we "dodged a bullet" and my husband would be "back to normal" in a couple of weeks. As weeks turned in to months, we started to realize things weren't getting back to normal.
He had memory issues, word-finding issues, and his business was starting to suffer. Many of the advantages of being self-employed disappear when a disability strikes. I was unsure how to help him and several neurologist visits later, we were on our own.
Our insurance plan had a $10,000 deductible and when 2011 rolled around (two months after his accident), we found we could no longer afford cognitive therapy, nor could we find another neurologist who knew more than we did about traumatic brain injury.
As time passed, we found great joy in new friendships and learned from the mistakes of those around us. We found we needed to be our own best advocates and we surround ourselves with those who love us and have our best interests in mind. We still live, laugh, and learn every single day.
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