Breaking the stereotypes of traumatic brain injury

By Kenny Stulz

It's amazing how things can change.

I have been a licensed real estate broker associate. I ran for city council in 2005. I have always been confident in myself as a man and in my own ability to pursue my dreams and succeed.

On Aug. 24, 2008, as owner and operator of my own tree service, I fell 40 feet to the ground while trimming limbs from a tree. I am now learning to live with traumatic brain injury, or TBI.

My life has been changed forever.

After being airlifted to University of Iowa, I lost a kidney, my spleen and part of my liver. I remained in a medically induced coma for the better part of two months, and subsequently had to learn everything from speaking to driving, over again.

It has been two years since the accident; the journey is slow. Sometimes I laugh. When I feel like crying, I cannot. I find myself alternating between frustration, anger, depression and extreme anxiety.

People I have known my entire life are now uncomfortable with the “new” Kenny. They all but ignore me at social functions due to changes in my speech and motor skills. My confidence has been shaken, and I have been humbled.

Like I said, it's amazing how things can change.

Recently I have had the opportunity to become involved with the Midwest Advocacy Project, or MAP. We are a group that meets approximately once a month to pool our personal experiences, resources and information for a study being conducted by the Mayo Clinic, in conjunction with the University of Iowa, on TBI. Three hundred people are taking part in this study throughout Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and Missouri.

It is our mission at MAP to provide information regarding TBI, with new advocacy programs, mentoring and support groups to those who are living with and adjusting to TBI, as well as their families, friends and acquaintances. We are working to develop ways to educate the public, the medical community, insurance companies, case managers and government officials, including the Social Security Administration, about TBI, thereby eliminating the stereotypes and providing us with the means and support needed to live normal, happy lives.

Once you are considered “slow,” you are labeled for the rest of your life.

You see, there is life “before” the accident and life “now.” We relate everything in terms of that mindset. Yet we are not new people without an identity. We are not victims; we can be happy, we can go on. It is our goal to learn and to teach, to hold the hands of all parties involved with the TBI patient, as well as the patients themselves.

I'll say it once again: It's amazing how things can change.

Kenny Stulz is an Illinois native who grew up in Illinois City and now resides in Cedar Rapids. His fiancee, Anne Greene, assisted with the writing of this article. Comments: kennystulz@yahoo.com. More information on traumatic brain injury and the Midwest Advocacy Project at tbimap.com, under “members.”