And today we'd like to welcome Becca to our podcast. She is a very active member in our outreach group. And we're excited that we finally have talked to her, convinced her to come be on our podcast. So Becca, just tell us a little bit about yourself.
Um, Yeah. So that's a trick question. Before I got hurt, I was a different person, right? Um, I was working as an attorney. Um, On a case in Florida. I mean, right before I got hurt, right. Several months before I was working on a case in Florida. Um, traveling all over the country on the weekends to jump out of airplanes. Skydiving is kind of by, um, weekend hobby or it was, um, And then back to Florida for work and. This, that and the other right. Um, I'm a perpetual student. I love school.
Um, so I had like three graduate degrees by the time I was 22, like. It just wasn't normal. So. I dunno, I was just a go, go, go. Go get it all the time person that. You know,
very active.
Yeah.
And I think you still are.
I'm getting back to it for sure.
Yeah, for sure. So right now that you had mentioned a little bit about, you know, your accident. I think that as members of BIND, and for us taking a little bit of, wow, To get to know you. So what's so unique about it.
Um, so my accident was actually a skydiving accident. Um, it was a landing problem. Um, I had traveled to the state of Alabama for a jump. It was record setting, jump for the state. Um, so we prepared for it and everything on the, uh, on that jump, we exited, we built the formation. We were supposed to build to set the record on that job, so, okay. Check that done. Um, But it was somewhere a little bit off from the airport where we would usually land because of weather.
Um, because weather it's very regulated in skydiving, um, so we got out somewhere a little bit different and had to land somewhere a little bit different. Um, I was on a small parachute that goes really fast and I tripped when I landed. Um, and my brakes, if you will came off because parachutes fly kind of like an airplane does, so kind of lost my brakes and bounced.
And bounced on your head, I guess.
Yeah. Uh, so I shattered both femurs and brain injury, obviously.
Welcome to the club.
Like that's a fancy club or something. Right.
Right now it's like when someone turns 50 and you go welcome to the clip. It's not really a club. I want to be a part of. We have fun. So you told us. A little bit about your life before recovery. Very go. I mean, before it not before recovery, If we, before your TBI. Always on the go, go, go, go, go. So how long ago was your accident?
Um, almost 10 years ago to the day. So October 11th, 2013.
Oh wow.. October 11. Yeah. I don't even know. I don't really want to know what they is today.
Well, It's the fifth.
Yeah. Honestly, I think that in the very small time, compared to what 10 years. I think I only met you on maybe three or four years ago and you've made so much progress just in front of me. Like, I think that's, that's crazy. That's pretty awesome. But like, okay, so 10 years ago, and like, obviously I met you years. Years later, but how was your recovery? Like what did you, what did it take for recovery for you?
Um, my recovery, everybody would tell you is a little bit different than I think what I'm traditional brain injury recovery is because I had the physical, um, Attributes as well. My femur shattering. Um, so I did inpatient recovery at shepherd center. Um in Georgia. Um, because my family Googled it and said, okay, best brain injury recovery, something for very acute accident. And all of that. Um, so I was there for about a month.
Um, and my mom stayed with me, like in a kind of hotel type place, close by and things like that. Um, and then I came back to Dallas. And when I got back to Dallas, I went and toured pate. Um, and ended up at Baylor, but only for a few weeks. Um, Because all my recovery seemed to center around my legs and my physical problems, my legs for the first five years after my accident. Right. I was having. To have, see my doctor once a week have x-rays once a week.
You know, PT three times a week and this, that, and the other. Um, so it was very physical focused at first. Um, but bind has really been part of what's worked in, in terms of helping me recover from my brain injury and from not having the traditional types of therapy. Right.
Right. And I think that's really important to kind of clarify, right. Because if you're very focused on your physical. Yeah. And I think that's really important too, because that was like part of who you, who you are. Right. Skydiving and doing all these. I don't know. I want to say athletic because I think it is athletic, but I don't know if everyone will like agree with that.
I mean, I was playing soccer too
yeah. Well, there's all that. You know, changes these changes physically like really changed your life for sure. Um, but. So now that you're working here, at BIND to, to recover. Uh, huh. How does that have to do with your brain and how you're recovering with your brain?
Okay. Yeah. Bind's actually helped me a lot. Um, because bind is a very safe place to. Make mistakes to mess up and things like that. So one of the things I struggled with just in general, after my, um, brain injury was kind of social connections. Um, and things like that. So bind is a good place to come, um, to be in a group of people and kind of learn social skills again, right? How to treat people and. When to talk and kind of the basics of things like that.
Um, but bind is also a good place in my mind for, um, preparing to go back to work. Right. Because I intend to go back to work and all of that, that's sort of what's on my mind. Um, Because I don't need the same kind of services that I needed from bind initially. When I got here, I needed the initial basic help of how to send an email, how to schedule your time, how to right plan life accordingly. And now I'm kind of really focusing on those social skills that.
Um, Learning to not be in control, right. As an attorney and things like that. Right. I was always in control. And learning to breathe and it doesn't always have to be your way and it doesn't. Right. It still works out just fine. If you do it, just go with the flow and do it with somebody else. But BIND has been a great place for me to learn and it's still learning. Right.
But to learn that skill of trying to say, okay, You know, you're not going to get fired for this, but you're having trouble emotionally regulating this. So it's kind of an emotional playground.
Um, and I like the way you say that. So it's not just learning the social skills. It's also understanding that there is because of the brain injury, probably more so than just regular people. There is a little bit of. That emotional thing that you didn't have to deal with before, before your brain injury that. Okay. Wait, maybe I can't quite do as much as you know, I can't do eight hours behind the desk, you know, behind in the courtroom. And then. But five hours on the soccer field anymore.
And then I'm upset about that, but that's not the goal. The goal is just to. get back to where you're, functioning the way that you're happy.
Yeah. Um, especially because so much changes with brain Injury use your social connection. And, um, and in my mind sort of my level of friends I had right. Were very independent people, lawyers and doctors and things like that. Right. Skydiving is an expensive hobby. Um, Kind of just to relearn. Reintegration into your whole new way of life, right? There is no comparison about one's better. One's worse. Okay. That's very much different.
Um, so it's kind of trying to retrain yourself how to live life, quote, unquote, these days, if you will.
Right. And I totally understand that. Um, and I'm back up just a little bit. How did you hear about BIND? I'm going to guess Baylor or Pate.
Actually, no, that one's really easy. My mommy found it on the internet.
Then gotta love of those mommies.
Yeah. So I, um, I heard about it since I was only at Baylor for a few weeks and I only toured pate. Um, I didn't hear about anything through there because I was so worried about the physical part of everything. Um, but my mom started bringing up BIND to me maybe two years after I got hurt in the midst of surgery and everything. And I went, no, no, no, I don't have time for that. I have so much other stuff going on with doctors and physical therapy and surgeries and. I don't have time for that.
And then when I finally finished all of my surgery and I went, okay, now I can pay attention to my brain. Then I joined BIND. But initially it was all kind of, because my mommy Googled it. Yeah.
I love that.
I do remember in the beginning that you weren't. I'm not going to say you weren't happy to be here around us. It was a little obvious that this wasn't your first choice of places to be. And you have then like a 180 on that one hundred percent. Like you're always happy and ready to pitch in and help and happy to be here. We're used to, like I said, I mean, I'm going to say you weren't happy. And it's still though. There was somewhere else. You wanted to be some, I'm glad that.
That you've been able to find us as a social connection as well too. That that's, that we really helped you there. That's great to hear. Cause that's a new one. I mean, it's not new. That's what we all tell everybody. But. To actually have someone give us that feedback that we're actually accomplishing. That goal makes me feel good and proud.
So, yeah, well, it was, um, part of it, right. And I assume that it's this way with a lot of people post brain injury, but I didn't need this place. This place was below me. Right because of my background and where I came from, but that's mostly because I didn't understand what all of my deficits were. Sure. I didn't know that I needed as much help as I needed. Because I. Unintentionally kind of avoided doing things. I would didn't really know how to do so.
Bind has been a really great place to practice those things about. Okay, look, you really do have these deficits. Let's identify it and come up with a way that you want to address it instead of just trying to figure it out for yourself.
Okay, I'm going to take a quick pause real quick and just remind our listeners to go ahead and click that like button. Click that share button, click all the buttons. Like I always say. Um, it's to, continue listening to us again. Every Thursday we're here. for your listening. Pleasure. And I'm going to go back and you said something now, I'm going to try to remember what you said. Um, brain injury.
Yeah, brain injury. But I think that you explaining like who you were before and like the positions you had and like that responsibilities that you had before. I would like to talk to you about the responsibilities you have here at BIND now. So you're really involved in the outreach and advocacy unit as. Well, so tell us about that and what do you do and what do you, what are you like really leading here at bind?
Um, okay. So for outreach it is something I really enjoy, um, because that's something I really struggled with when I first got hurt, was finding a way to explain to people what a brain injury is and what kind of help that I needed. So outreach is where we do a lot of new member onboarding and things like that to schedule tours and speaking events and, you know, things like that, which was important for me because I had so much trouble. Identifying resources when I got hurt, right.
Because my brain was so injured. I didn't know what resources I needed. Right. So it's great to be able to talk to families and prospective members. And explain what bind does and what bind can offer and, you know, kind of a third person perspective to people that are so new to this. Type of injury and this type of recovery. Um, it's just, it's really great to help with scheduling speaking events and things like that. Um, and BIND, like I said, is a great place to venture out.
I'm trying to venture a little bit more out of outreach and into things like media and merchandise. Um, and things like that, um, because bind is a safe place to get out of your comfort zone. So it's, I don't know. It's just, it's a great way to improve your life kind of in a safe environment.
Absolutely. And you said, oh, I'm sorry, Kezia. Go Ahead.
Well, I was going to say, like, since right now that you were saying, getting out of your, you know, your comfort zone, So, what are you doing now? That's like, I think that's something that we would like to focus on, but if you don't want to share it's okay.
But like a podcast.
All right. So why is it difficult? Like, what is difficult about it after having a stroke or, you know, I mean, sorry. That was me. I have to, after having the, you know, the TBI, like what exactly. What's difficult about being on a podcast or anything. That's really. Like, like this social media wise.
Um, in general, I always felt like I needed to prove that I was quote unquote enough. Right. I don't need any help that I'm perfectly self-sufficient that I can do everything by myself and things like that. So it was good to get, um, kind of into a skill that I needed some help on. And needed some other feedback as a part of learning to work with other people again, right. To really try and venture out. Um, I was worried about.
Getting on video because I'm like, oh, but I don't want anybody to be able to Google me. Right. And then I went, okay. I don't know. I'm not trying to hide anything. I'm not, I'm not ashamed of anything. Right. It's maybe just paranoia about what could go wrong, but in reality, life doesn't really work that way. And. You kind of have to get over it. So BIND it's just a good place to really try to think about things and push your limits.
Yeah. And I really liked that view for sure.
I do too.. I think that's great. I mean, you know, You're not the only one that feels that way and believe me when Kezia and I first started this, we were like, wait, you want us to do what. I'm going to get done and be like, did we really just say that? We say the right word. Did we say it right? So, you know, but that is your right. And I'm glad that you bring that up. That bind is a very safe place. And even on this podcast, we know we make mistakes. We know we say the wrong word.
We hope we catch ourselves and correct it. But we're not, we're not ashamed that we said the wrong word or that we messed up. We tend to kind of laugh at each other a little bit and move on and encourage and keep going. And I think that's great that you've gotten all that feedback from BIND that we're pushing you to try new things. And with that. So you kind of mentioned it. I'm curious. So we are looking at going back to work. Maybe not in the law field, but then maybe?
Right. Um, and that, so that's something else that I'm getting, especially now out of bind a lot. Um, I have no intention of going back to being a lawyer. Um, And the short and easy of it is I wouldn't hire me. I don't expect somebody else to either. Um, I'm not going to ask somebody else that wouldn't be fair. Um, but I actually, for as many degrees as I have in. Variety of fields.
Actually what's joined me is that I really want to, um, get a job where I'm helping other people through, um, recovery of some sort, especially because I've had so much of that experience myself. Um, with brain injury and rape recovery and things like that, um, that just, if there's something really positive, it just feels so good to help somebody going through what you've been through yourself. Right? Brain injury is a lifelong recovery process.
But it's that suddenly the field I want to go back into. So I'm looking at going back to school starting next semester. I've just finally gotten to where I go. Okay. No, that wouldn't be overwhelming and I'm doing so much already. Um, but for some type of, um, rehabilitation focused, Um, education. Um, but it's just by that again, that's something else you can learn at bind, right. Is how to adjust to your life now and what you're trying to do to get started on the right foot.
That's great. And you are looking at school.
I am.
That's awesome.
Yeah. And I actually think that right now, what you're saying is like, you want to be able to help others. And especially if they're going through a situation that you have similarities in. So right now would be a perfect time to do so. So what advice would you have to someone that's a new, uh, like was just experiencing a brain injury or is even a caregiver or someone that has had this experience and don't know what to do.
That's a great question. In my mind, I'd say it gets better. Um, It, it's hard to appreciate when you first get hurt, just how much improvement you're going to make and especially your family. I know my family was going, oh my gosh. Our life is over. She's never going to be functional again. Some of that in terms of what we heard from doctors.
Um, and kind of expected recovery, but there is so much unknown that you kind of get lost, but if it's something that you really can figure out and it really does get better, but it takes time. And unfortunately time is one of those things that you can't just rush and say, okay, let's hurry up and quick quick. It takes time. You just have to be patient, but in my mind for recovery, you sort of get out of it as much as you put into it. Right.
I'm trying to identify my problems and identify what I'm struggling with and then talk to staff and they're trying to help me understand. And it. As calmly as they can. Right. Um, but that allows me, even if I get an emotional turmoil or I have some emotional fit to then stop and think, okay. What was said and how did that really come about and how can I adjust and do better tomorrow? Right. It's a learning curve it is.
And then that is another good thing about that. Here is like, we can get emotional with, you know, Learning constructive criticism again, after brain injury is probably one of the hardest things I've had to deal with. So, I know what you mean. I get very emotional sometimes I'm like, but I can always do it this way. I always did it. Right. And now you're telling me I totally get that.
But Becca, I do want to tell you, thank you so much for doing this and I'm so, so glad you did, because like I said, you've done a totally 180 since the first time I met you and I'm so encouraged to hear that you've got lofty goals. I wasn't sure about those. I was a little scared to ask. But I am so excited that you joined. And shared with our listeners.
Thanks, Carrie. I appreciate it. Yeah, you guys do a great job on this podcast so keep it up.
Well, I can't wait for people. Listen to yours. Honestly. Thank you for taking that, that risk and crossing your, you know, like. Comfort zones. So, um, if anyone likes to contact us or contact Becca, make sure to let us know by emailing us at bindwaves@thebind.org or follow us on Instagram. And also make sure to visit the website, which is thebind.org/bindwaves.
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until next time,