I'm so sorry for the loss of your nephew. Tragic loss and my heart goes out to everyone who knew him, both family and friends.
interesting article but they are the few that experience amazing new talents as a result of a tbi.

There's nothing good about having a tbi but those of us lucky enough to live through it, have to get on with things.
I think many of lose fear of things like failure and just go for things.
Its like we finally discover that we just have to make the most of life.
As so much is different after a tbi it can seem strange to notice how we react differently. how we become stronger and better able to support others going through hard times.Maybe because we have lived through such hard times and maybe we hate the thought of anyone going through anything so hard so we want to help.
One thing i have noticed in myself is that I have absolutely no problem talking to anyone or asking for anything now. Its no miracle, its just that I have seen that we've got one life and we have to make the most of it. I was always so shy before.

While I agree with you Nat, that extraordinary talents might be few and far between, i am also sure that every dark cloud does have a silver lining. Seeking it out sometimes takes immense courage, but it is always there. It doesn't need to be as profound as becoming a world renowned artist or anything. Just having a 'new found' ability to speak to strangers is a gift. The mere appreciation of it makes dealing with the challenges we face, living with a TBI, a little less overwhelming, at times. It is not a cure by any means, but it is a coping strategy that works for me. Please don't think that i underestimate the effects of TBI. I lived within a very dark cloud for a very long time. It robbed everything from me, until i 'found' my silver lining (albeit faint and flickering at times). Now....I can finally appreciate life sometimes.

My nephew (Zak) was a quite well loved young man. He devoted his life to helping 'troubled' kids (and adults) to find peace in their heart. The service was full of friends (and the parents of his 'kids') expressing their gratitude for him. He had a smile and presence that is so rare in this world. His death will spread that to every heart he touched. I saw it happening already.

Peace

I absolutely HATE articles like that one!

It is EXTREMELY rare for a person who has suffered a brain injury to end up with some sort of special gift. VERY, VERY, VERY EXTREMELY RARE.

The artist that was referred to who does sculpting, Alonzo Clemens, has been written about repeatedly.

A brain injury is NOT a gift. It is NOT a blessing. It is a horrible trauma to go through.

It takes tremendous strength to survive and to gain back by clawing and crawling to some semblance of what our life once was.

I send sympathy your way on the loss of your nephew.

But the article you referenced was very upsetting to me and I feel it dismisses the horrible sufferings brain injury survivors go through.

Wow. I didn't expect these responses at all. I certainly didn't mean to offend anyone nor diminish their suffering. Keep in mind, that i have probably lived with this longer than anyone on here. I know all too well what the 'long term' struggles are like and i intended only to encourage people to see that there is an up side to them....and YES, there definitely is an up side. Damage to the brain certainly closes more doors than it opens, but the doors it opens are ones of 'perception'. Those artists that they describe in the article are tapping into these opened doors. Am I the only one that simply see's things more clearly than those around me? Am i the only one that can sense other people's emotions? There must be others that have noticed a bit of an esp type of sensation post TBI. I have posed many questions on here and the responses all indicate that many of you do. Although, i will admit that most of the responses were of the "come to think of it...yes" variety, indicating that it often goes unnoticed. I suppose what i am trying to do is to just get you all to think about it.

I admire what you are trying to do, but it is hard. My husband might say....although he doesnt think in the abstract all all....that since his TBI he is more able to live in the present moment. Or maybe I am saying that for him as I struggle to find some good in it all. As for me, the wife of a TBI I think the thing that has meant the most is realizing how wonderful my grown children are and what strength they have shown as they have been by our sides all the way.

I enjoyed the article and understand what your saying. My brain injury is acquired, having many brain surgeries, stroke, meningitis, etc. And it has been really interesting (and very difficult as we all know) adapting to all the changes. For example.. after one brain surgery, I woke up doing everything left handed.. this was after being right handed for 30 years.

As a kid, I enjoyed painting and drawing as a hobby, but now I HAVE to paint. I have a hard time explaining the feeling, but it is an uncontrollable pull on me, that doesn't let up until I paint. I paint anything and everything I can get my hands on. I don't think about what I'm doing ahead of time, I just paint and don't stop until I'm satisfied or exhausted. My paintings have been in art shows and have actually sold, so I'm making a little money at it as well, which always helps.

On the flip side, before my BI, I was a freelance writer. I haven't written anything professionally since a week before my first brain surgery and have no interest in ever going back to it. Writing, speaking, trying to explain myself in any way is very frustrating and hard for me.

Thank you for posting the article, and I'm sorry about your nephew.

my partner has found some of your peace/acceptance Dram. and has finally slowed his life down, due to his acquired bi's. he was always running, and doing, and not enjoying life, it was never adding up to what he wanted it to be, and he was constantly chasing the next dream/ next goal. he too has suffered all his life. Life he has now learned to appreciate, and also he's now a very talented artist. he had always loved to do art, and photography, but since re-evaluating his life, its now his work, and he's excelling in it. His art has taken on new value, and has moved to new levels. his moods are medicated and now stabilized, and his life has reached a stable path too, and now this art is just coming out of him! i see that as one of the silver linings, that and he's still alive.

Dram, I too want to offer my condolences for the the loss of your nephew. It truly sounds as if he will be greatly missed. You, your family & friends will be in my thoughts and prayers.

While I agree with Elanie it is the most traumatic thing I've ever gone through there have been some good things that happened as a result.

When I was getting ready to be released from the hospital I guess I was in denial. the doctor told me I would never fully function again. Much out of my previous character I called him a liar at the top of my lungs. I decided at that very moment I would prove him...all of them wrong.

I also remember when the overwhelming sensations came over me, the lack of facial expressions were noticed by me, the inability to simply laugh, all of the things that were horribly wrong came crashing down on my shoulders. I've never known such hopelessness but, in the back of my mind was this image of a girl who's been told she can't do something, she turns around stamps her foot as she yells, "Just watch me!"

At that point I made a choice, to find 1 thing good about whatever situation was happening at the time. Yes, I had to find even search for some glimmer of goodness.

I still can't tell you how my emotions feel, but I can look at someone else and tell you exactly what theirs are. I feel their pain, their sorrow, their happiness, not my own. Is that a gift?

I don't know. I've always been a "people" person I could sense emotion but I wasn't always right. I'm never wrong now. I can't say it's because I have esp or anything. I pick up on their body language it says much more about someone than words and it gives them away because they aren't aware they are "saying" anything.

I do believe I over analyze things, and if something is on my mind I can't put it to rest until I figure it out. I walk with brain fog a lot of the time because of it.

It is my choice, just as it is everyone's choice to decide what's good and bad. I don't like that I have a severe TBI, I don't like the other physical damage that came along with it. It is my choice to have a positive outlook, to believe in myself enough to believe I can and will beat TBI and be a better person because I've beaten it.

Thanks everyone for your responses. I understand both perspectives well. I went through most of my 50 years with it in denial, so i am distinctly aware of the pain it causes. Since learning of my 'truth', i have also 'chosen' to seek out the positive. I am, by nature, neither an optimist nor a pessimist. I am a realist, so understanding the nature of brain/mind function, as well as psychology has given me a very clear picture of my dilemma and the accompanying gift.

Sporty, I use my knowledge of psychology combined with my ability to 'feel' others true feelings (body language is often clouded by ego as well) to help them understand what they are going through, in hopes that they find peace. I also find that i can 'absorb' some of their emotional energy (for better or worse) and feel 'for' them. With my nephews passing, i was able to offer a great deal of comfort in a time of extreme sadness. My calling seems to be guiding me in the direction of 'trauma medium' of some sort. A TBI friend is doing this kind of work and finds it quite fulfilling.