The body’s response to a concussion or other forms of traumatic brain injury (TBI) varies widely depending upon the person and the injury. “We don’t know, to be honest with you, why she had such a dramatic recovery and others have not,” M. Sean Grady, MD, chair of Neurosurgery recently told CBS3 TV, referring to his patient, Candace Gantt, who suffered a severe TBI as a result of a bike accident 10 years ago. Against all odds, Candace made a complete recovery and is now giving back to Penn Medicine and the doctors and caregivers she credits with saving her life.
Gantt organized the recent Mind Your Brain conference for fellow brain injury survivors, their families and caregivers. “It’s a real mission and passion for me to be able to connect resources with brain injury survivors,” she said in an interview with CBS3 at the event. Candace says after the initial treatment, she had trouble finding help with things like memory.
A TBI is any jolt or penetrating injury to the head that disrupts the brain’s function. They have become more common in the past 10 years, due in part to increased patient awareness, leading to an increase in emergency room visits and hospitalizations. We hear about concussions in professional athletes most, but a TBI can happen on any sports fields, in car crashes, and during falls in the home. Some patients, like Candace, resume normal lives, but for others, life will never be the same again.
Matt Van Kirk lives with a “new normal” now. The 38-year-old high school teacher and middle school lacrosse coach suffered a TBI in a head-on car crash in December 2013 and is still struggling to get his life back on track. He was treated at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania for severe internal bleeding, multiple broken ribs and a broken arm. He underwent multiple surgeries and blood transfusions. Then he suffered a massive heart attack and went into cardiac arrest.
He was placed in a medically-induced coma. When he woke, he couldn’t recall his name, what year it was, or how old he was, and had to learn to walk, talk and function anew. The avid sports fan watched the NCAA tournament from his hospital bed, but he would watch a game and minutes later forget the score or a play, and when asked later in the day or week about the game, he could not even recall watching it. His brain injury had left him with still-lingering cognitive and memory impairments. Through intense rehabilitation at Good Shepherd Penn Partners, Penn Medicine’s rehabilitation arm, he regained many of his abilities, but continues his recovery every day with the support of his family and Penn therapists. He still faces many challenges, but the fact that he has come this far is a “miracle,” his doctors say.
Matt was unable to attend the symposium, but agrees with Candace that additional support for brain injury survivors is needed after their hospital and rehabilitation stays come to an end.
Douglas Smith, MD, director of Penn’s Center for Brain Injury and Repair, says the best way for medical professionals to help patients is to start with a proper diagnosis. “Our goals are to help people like that to try to set them on the path to the best recovery they can have.”
Mind Your Brain included breakout sessions, such as Caregivers Need Care, Too, Non-Sports Concussion: The “Other” Concussion Crisis, Surviving and Thriving with Brain Injury, and Veteran TBI Survivorship Resources. There was also a discussion about concussion and TBI with a panel of former professional athletes. With over 100 attendees, some of them survivors who shared their personal and medical struggles, and a wealth of information on new research and therapies from Penn Medicine clinicians and neuroscience and brain injury thought leaders, it’s safe to say the first Mind Your Brain symposium was a success. Stay tuned for next year.