Hi, I'm Kezia. Uh, stroke, survivor and member of bind. On find waves. We share stories of acquired brain injury survivors. And also sparkle, a little bit of hope and everything that we share. In honor of March, which is brain injury awareness month. We're going to be releasing some episodes, which are the ones that are most watched and most listened to. On today's episode where you're going to hear from Carl. Who you've met before as a guest and as a cohost.
And he's going to be sharing his experience of having a brain injury for more than 15 years, he might be with the one that's most professional and most knowledge. On what is a brain injury? So stay tuned and the best episode. Until next time.
Hi, I'm Kezia and I'm a brain injury survivor.
And hi, I'm Keri. I'm a stroke survivor and we would like to welcome you to episode one of BINDWAVES and we have Carl here today. He is a founding member and a brain injury survivor as well.
for having me. I am Carl, and I spell it correctly with a K. So, sorry for all you Carls with a C. The majority of you have a C, so I may be the one that's having a mistake. But, uh, I had a brain injury. 15 years ago in 2006 and that qualifies me for answering questions about a brain injury. Thank you for having me. Welcome to BIND Waves, the official podcast of the Brain Injury Network of Dallas. I'm Brian White, BIND's Executive Director.
On each episode, we'll be providing insight into the brain injury community. We'll be talking to members and professionals regarding their stories and the important role of BIND's Clubhouse. We work as a team to inspire hope, community, and a sense of purpose to survivors, caregivers, and the public. Thank you for tuning in to BINDways. Let's get on with the show.
So Carl, tell us a little bit about you, how did you survive, I mean how did you get your brain injury?
I had a car accident that was not my fault. Much to my wife's dismay, she, she expected that when she found out I had a car wreck, it was my fault. No, um, I was stopped for an accident in front of me on the freeway and somebody, uh, fell asleep behind the wheel and hit me going 60 or 70 miles per hour and my car damaged 10 cars in front of me. Gave me a nice brain injury.
Wow.
Well, we're glad to have you here today, Carl. So for all of our listeners, could you kind of explain what a brain injury is for those that don't
know? Well, you know, the obvious part is like saying you have a broken arm. That explains it all, you have a brain injury. But what it doesn't explain is that it's unlike a break in the arm, which is just affects the arm. If you have a brain injury, it affects anything that the brain controls. So I lost my entire right side, uh, is paralyzed. I lost my speech and reading and writing completely. And, uh, that, that is what a brain injury is all about. A lot of losses. A
lot of losses, right? Um, so, do you know, like, what type of brain injuries? And the only reason I ask that is because I know that there's so many. So, how many is there and what kind did you have?
Well, mine was a traumatic brain injury. But the, uh, you can have a brain injury from a stroke, which Carrie had. Um, you can have it from tumors in the brain. You can have it from various diseases that affect the brain. You know, there, there's a ton of ways to have a brain injury. I just said one of the fun ones that
So, this is just like a very simple question and I don't know if it's too much, but I hear on the news sometimes like all these famous people that have had brain injury just because they fell, like at a, at a concert or like down the stairs or something. Like, would that be considered a brain injury?
I'm glad that you mentioned that because I always forget it. Is the number one. cause of a brain injury is a fall. Falling off a ladder, falling, uh, going to get your mail when the snow's out and you slip. You know, it's, it's all kinds of different falls, but it is the number one cause of a brain injury. So thank you, Kezia, for mentioning that.
Yeah. I'm always like learning, especially from brain injury survivors. It's like the best teachers. So thank you so much for being here. Yes, thank
you. Um, can brain injuries be prevented?
Well, they like to say you can prevent having a stroke by, by eating correctly and, and so on and so forth. But for the most part, there's no way I could have prevented BIND. There was a car wreck that happened to me and I, you know, there's absolutely no way I could have avoided it. And, uh, I guess if you're doing, uh, what do they have in the Olympics, the snowboarding and all, you know, they're apt to have a brain injury. They choose to do that, but they can avoid having that happen to them.
But really, a brain injury is something that happens to you for the most part. Nobody expects, nobody wakes up in the morning and says, you know, this morning I'd like to have a brain injury. Right.
That doesn't happen. No, not at all.
But you can wear a helmet, right? That
would help. That would help if you're a motorcyclist. You know, you don't want to have a brain injury. Wear a helmet. Many people have been saved from a brain injury by that's, that helps. And
don't go check the mail when it's icy out. Exactly.
Yeah, I also think that we've like learned from people that have strokes like what to feel and what not to feel but also like the level of stress I think has always been talked about too. Um, but like you said, I think that no one ever prevents it, fully prevents it, like I think that there is some kind of, I don't know, I guess percentage, but I don't know about those facts.
We all think that we're going to beat the odds. So, especially when we're young, we think this is not going to happen to me and then it does and you have to deal with it. That's the way it is with a brain injury.
Yeah, that's so true. So right now that we're talking about it, and I think that you talked about it a little while ago, about like what was affected of having a brain injury. Um, can you tell us a little bit more about that? Is that something common to all? that have some kind of brain injury.
Every brain injury is unique, every single one. None of us that have a brain injury have the same melodies, but there's, if you go and you talk to a bunch of brain injuries like we have here at the clubhouse, somebody else in the, in the group has what you've had. Now, when I've had a lack of speech. We have those people. But, uh, I never lost my numbers. Go tell me how that happens. You lose all your words, all your speech, but your numbers are perfect.
And so, you know, we all have somebody that we can relate to here at BIND that can relate to what you've had, but everybody has a set of different things.
Right. I love the word that you used, melodies. I love it. Like, I love it. I even feel like some people have an easier time either speaking or anything, having a certain rhythm. And I think that's kind of a great way as an example. Um, just melodies. We all have a different flow. We all have a different result from brain injuries. So, I love that word. It kind of stuck into my mind right now, like melodies. Yeah, so
thank you. Yep, we all are a little bit different, all the same, and all a little different.
Indeed, and that's a blessing in disguise, because some of us have strengths in areas that others have weaknesses, and we can help them. For instance, you know, I still, since I lost my ability to write, and I couldn't identify the letters of the alphabet way back when, I still have trouble spelling. I used to be the guy that you would come ask how to spell something. Now I'm the last guy in the Dallas Fort Worth area. You want to come ask how to spell something.
So when I write a letter for the, uh, an article for the newsletter. You know, I need to have it proofread by somebody who never lost that skill. They might not be able to speak and I can help them speak. So it's, it's all, you know, dealing with your brain injury and, and trying to get better. I'm 15 years from my brain injury. I had it in 2006 and I'm still improving.
Yeah, that's actually one of the next questions that I was going to ask you. But I mean, just from what you've been saying, I have so many questions right now because you have such a like a general like, um, history that's amazing. Like, even right now, you said 15 years. Like, So, you're considering your recovery lasting 15 years. Is there like some limit or like, do people think that it's only a certain amount of time for recovery? I
really appreciate you asking that question. When I was in Baylor Hospital in the bed, a doctor and a nurse came in and they thought I was, I had my eyes closed. They thought I was asleep and the nurse asked the doctor, how long does he have to recover? And the doctor said, He's got about a year to get back what he's going to get back and that's it. Well, that is 100 percent false. That is, that is not true. You continue, the brain is an amazing animal, if you will. It continues to heal.
And, uh, 15 years I'm still improving. You know, when I originally tried to read, I couldn't even read a word in an article. And then I started to read a word and then I would work on a sentence. And then I would work on a paragraph, and now I read the entire newspaper, and that's over time. You heal over time, but you only heal by actually exercising the problem that you have. You have to make the brain do those things and work on those things that you want it to do. I
remember you always talking about in your recovery that they would have you do the alphabet, and you would just, you said, eventually I'm going to get them right.
Well, as I always like to say, the first time they tested me on the alphabet, I got two right. And I always say, if you say P and Z often enough, eventually you're going to be right. Right. Exactly. Because I had no idea what those
letters were. Yeah. I think that, um, you and I are very similar in the fact that like, what, got affected. Like, for me, reading is, like, the worst. Like, one paragraph, it's like, I already need a nap. Like, that's just not gonna happen. Exactly. Not gonna happen. But I also got the numbers, like, all mixed up. So, good luck for you. Like, that's really amazing that you got your numbers right. I do not. You
know,
so here at BIND, I would be responsible for balancing the checkbook. Even from the beginning, couldn't speak right, but I could balance the checkbook. It's, it's just an amazing thing about the brain. Certain things get completely damaged and other things are completely left alone. It's just amazing to me how that works.
But the brain does have a way to heal itself, correct? It does.
You know, you keep exercising it and it's called neurons. The neurons continue to work to reconnect. to your memories and your knowledge base and so on and so forth. So I cannot tell you to this day how much I remembered my words and how much I relearned my words. And who cares? I can now speak. I can now read. I can write. You know, it's, who cares how much was remembered and how much was relearned.
True. So, what are some other, um, I know we have a lot of people that we know that have had, like, a brain injury. So, What are other areas, like other than our speech, or like our reading, or remembering, um, numbers, like what are some other areas that are affected by a brain
injury? Well, it could be anything, but, but, uh, um, Carrie's got an arm that's still, uh, questionable, she works on, um, so pieces of the body take a long time. I know a person in Fort Worth, a support group I go to there. that is, his right hand wasn't working and he couldn't write, that was his dominant hand and he worked on it for two years and one day it started to move. And now he's able to write with the right hand.
So you never know what's going to come back when you just keep working on stuff. Um, my balance is still an issue, you know, so I'm always afraid I'm a speeder. I'm a, I speed my car and I'm always afraid, especially when I wasn't speaking well, that I was going to get stopped by the police and pulled over and they're going to talk to me and I'm going to be lisping like I've been drinking.
And then they're going to have me out doing the balance test and I'm going to fail because I don't have good balance. I'm going to jail, right? So I was always scared to death with my brain injury, but you know, now the balance is slightly better. I'm not slightly, a lot better. And, uh, and I can speak. So, you know, the brain injury heals, but everybody has to deal with what they've got. You know, that's 50 percent of people that, it's about 50 percent of people that have a brain injury die.
And we are the lucky part. We're the 50 percent that are still here. We're privileged to have the reason to, to continue working on our skills. God left us on the planet for a reason and it's our job to get better. That's that's what I always think. Thank
you Um, I think that you've talked a lot There's like like I said, I have a lot of questions But one of the things that you've been talking about is like that you know people in Fort Worth, right? You're what you just said about cops and then you had also mentioned something about Like giving speeches or like talking to people at the hospitals.
So You, you know a lot of people and you also give a lot of like, um, services, like telling people about your experiences, like for example, we're on a podcast right now and we're reaching out to people we don't even know. So what do you do? Like I know that first time I met you, you told me about you do, you used to go to cops teaching them about what it is to have a brain injury and that you weren't drunk. So like, what other things do you do like that? Or tell me more about the cops.
Well, the police, I just, I have to behave because they stop me all the time and I call them police, you know, you're not a cop, you're a policeman, um, the, uh, the, uh, the police have new trainees. And, uh, we go down to teach them about aphasia, which is the lack of speech and reading and writing.
Because there's a history here in Dallas of a lady who called the 9 1 1 because her Her new husband and her son were getting in a serious fight in the house and she thought they were going to kill each other. She called the police, but she had aphasia and she just dialed the number and laid the number down because she knew that they could track the number and come to her house. So they came to her house. She was pacing up and down on the sidewalk waiting for somebody to come.
Police came and said, Are you the one who dialed 911? She nodded. And they said, What's going on? She pointed at the house. And, uh, and they said, Well, we need to know what's going on in the house. You need to tell us. And she pointed at the house. And, uh, they said, No, really, you gotta tell us. So she started talking and lisping and not speaking well because of the brain injury. They arrested her and took her to jail because That's crazy. Because they thought she was drunk.
So she spent 18 hours in jail before somebody realized. Where she was and what happened. So a friend of mine that had a brain injury called the the police and said, can I train people on, on what to do now? He, he passed away and I picked up the, the role. I go down and talk to the Dallas police about once a quarter and, and teach them about aphasia, what the problems can be.
Wow. That's amazing. I didn't even know about that until right now. I'm like. I mean, it's like, wow, I can't, but I mean, I can't believe it now because we're here. Right.
We've all had those issues where you're talking to somebody and they look at you, we're relatively healed now, and nobody, they look at you and go, well, you didn't have a brain injury. And I go, well, yes, I did. Let me tell you about my brain injury. Yeah. I lost a lot. So, you know, it is what it is. And I go to the government. I've been down to Austin to talk to. The Texas government because they were not providing enough funds to, to brain injury healing.
And so I remember talking to a, uh, to a representative down there. He's the representative of the local Plano area. And he, and he, I told him, I said, after my brain injury, I couldn't talk a word. He said, I would never know. And now you can't shut up. Now I can, now I can't shut up. And I love to hear myself talk. And, uh, and he looked at me and said, I would never know. I said, that's the point, sir. Brain injuries can heal. The point is we get better, and oh yes, we vote. Right.
So, he got the
message. Yeah. That's amazing. I love everything that you do. Everything that you do so
far. Right. I try, I consider it my mission to teach people about brain injuries. You know, you don't, nobody has that class in high school on what to do in case you have a brain injury. You didn't have those classes, right? I certainly didn't. And so, people have a misnomer about brain injuries. They think a brain injury is the end. And that, uh, you know, it's the end of your life. And nothing is further from the truth. And I
think that's one of the key things we need to think about, is brain injuries, we do recover and we continue to recover. And just because someone doesn't look like they have a brain injury doesn't mean that they aren't. have a brain injury and they, you know, are doing their best to thrive and keep going and that's what we provide here at BIND, is a place to continue to grow and have purpose and hope and reconnect into society. Yeah,
yeah, yeah, that's true. That's so true. I think so, um, I think we've been learning so much from you and I'm so excited this is our first episode and a great start to what we've been doing for the next I don't know what, 11 episodes? Again, math, not me, but I said I got that wrong number. Oops. Um, but like, what would you want to make sure that everyone that listens to us, even Karia and I, would like to learn about brain injuries? Like, what
does it seem? I just want people to know that it can happen to anybody and that you can recover. It takes It's the hardest thing I've ever had to do. I've jumped out. I've been an army guy. I've jumped out of planes. I've scaled steep cliffs. I've done all kinds of dangerous things. They were hard, but a brain injury is the hardest thing I've ever had to deal with. It takes persistence. and dedication to heal, but you can.
And that's the message I want to give to all the brain injuries out there. That if you work at it, you can heal. You can have a recovery just the same as I did, just the same as you two did. We can all, we can all thrive and benefit. It's not the end of your life.
Well, Carl, we really appreciate you taking time today and speaking to us about brain injury, and we hope that y'all stay tuned and listen to more of our podcasts as we get going. We're excited. BIND Ways! you've enjoyed listening to BIND Waves and continue to support BIND and our non profit mission.
We support brain injury survivors as they reconnect into the life, the community, and their workplace.
And we couldn't do that without great listeners like you. We appreciate each and every one of you. Continue watching. Until next
time. Until next time.