I have a daughter that acquired a severe enclosed brain injury about 18 months ago from an auto accident. The doctors seem amazed by her recovery. From her initial prognosis to where we are today, I’m astounded. She was diagnosed with a severe diffused axonal injury. The doctors described that she had brain shearing throughout about 80% of her brain. She had two tears in her brain near the brain stem and an indeterminable amount of damage due to low oxygen saturation levels. Aside from the brain injury, her lungs collapsed, she had damaged organs, internal bleeding, and a few broken bones. The fact that she survived the physical injuries was a miracle. I was told around 90% of survivors with her type of brain injury never wake and those that do still had quite a grim prognosis. Looking at my daughter's recover, it's hard to describe her recovery as grim. She is a huge inspiration to me and many others who have shared in her journey. I try to be vigilant about seeking out all the information I can find to help my daughter progress to the best of her abilities.

Currently, she has significant deficits in memory and cognitive abilities, but is doing much better than I ever imagined. I would love to hear from others with a loved one with a severe diffused axonal injury. Since 90% of survivors never wake from their comas, it’s been very difficult to find others with a recovering patients to converse with to share strategies to help my daughter cope and potentially recover even more. She’s still in rehabilitation therapies, but I’m not sure how much longer that will last since her progression has slowed down so much. I look forward to any information that can help us and sharing any information I have that may help someone else!