This is a hard thing for me to admit....but, I find at this time of year, I am really 'jealous', I guess, of people who've 'overcome' or are dealing with and are winning the fight with brain injuries. I'm glad that Gabby Giffords is getting better and has come so far. I'm glad that Bob Woodward (I think that's his last name....the reporter from ABC who was injured in Iraq while reporting). But I just wonder who works it out....who decides who's good enough to live and who isn't?

My oldest brother was severely brain injured in 1981...he was in a coma/vegetative state for 25 years, 1 month and 10 days. He never opened his eyes, never spoke, never was able to move....I was so tempted to unplug his respirator when it first happened, and the only reason that I didn't was because he had 2 young children who were more like my brother and sister than my own brothers and sister. He was much older than me...more like a 'dad'....but I'm sorry that I didn't unplug him. I know he wouldn't have wanted to be like that for that period of time. Not when there was no hope.

Everytime I hear stories about someone 'coming back from the brink of death' it makes me really wonder....who decides....why one person over another? What makes one person's life better than another....or more worth saving than another? My sister-in-law (this brother's wife) was killed in a wreck with my brother driving just 5 years before, so didn't his kids need him, since they didn't have their mom? It's hard to explain....'jealous' I guess just sums it up best at this point. And I know that seems silly to be jealous of someone living but that's the only word I can think of.