Not everyone realizes his or her calling in life at a young age. For some of us, it takes years to finally recognize the path we should take in life. Unfortunately for me, it took a family tragedy to finally reveal my true calling in life.
On October 11, 2007, my brother (although not a brother by blood, but my brother, nonetheless) was in a serious motorcycle accident in which he suffered severe brain trauma and 100% brain damage. The doctors at the hospital did not believe that he would live past the second day. Unbelievably, he did live through the second day and he continued to survive in a coma for the next three months. During those three months, his brother, his mother, and I took turns staying at the hospital with him to ensure that someone was with him constantly in case he woke up. I had just recently been laid off so I had the most time to dedicate to this task.
Throughout his long hospital stay, I had come to know the hospital staff quite well – some of the staff doing their jobs with unbelievable dedication. Through the stress of the situation, the floor social worker proved to be an asset to the family. She provided us with brochures and literature about his condition that enabled us to research and fully understand the stages of his coma and care. It was through her work that I came to realize how I wanted to spend the rest of my life.
I learned that when a family member is admitted to the hospital, the rest of the family is hit with an overwhelming sense of helplessness and confusion. Hospital social workers have the opportunity to assist these families by providing them with vital information regarding the care of their loved one. These social workers can, unbiased, provide families with all of the information necessary for family members to make informed decisions about the current care as well as help plan for the after-care of their family member.
I want to be the one to assist family members care for their sick loved ones. When someone is sick and in the hospital, that person needs his or her families more than ever. Families are rarely prepared during these situations and oftentimes require the assistance of someone else. As someone who not only loves researching, but also desires to make a difference in the community, I am convinced that I will be able to provide any assistance a hospital patient and their families may need during the stressful time of illness or injury. I do not want anyone to feel alone or uninformed about any decision they may have to make about a family member in need. I long to provide support and compassion to other families finding themselves in situations similar to the one my family had just so recently faced.
Amazingly, today my brother is awake, walking, and talking. He progressed further than anyone expected and is still progressing. He suffered permanent blindness (he does have about 25% vision in one eye, but he is completely blind in the other) from his injuries, but he was blessed with his life, his memories, and many other abilities his original CT scan that left doctors convinced he would never be able to do again.
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that is great!!
i kind of understand what you mean..
i mean i am done with high school about to walk across the stage and get my diploma FINALLY but i still really dont know exactly what i want to do as a career, but a week ago today my new baby brother was born with cleft lip.
if you know what that is than you know things could have been much worse. but still when u expect to have a perfect baby but then it is born with a birth defect it is upsetting. But my step mom was really upset about it and pretty much cried the whole day and could barely stand to look at him because she blamed herself. but then this woman came and talked to us that had a son that was born 19 yrs ago with cleft lip & cleft pallete. but he has surgeries and surgeries and they fixed it she showed us pictures from when he was born til now and you cant even tell he had it.
but her coming helped us deal with it and realize he will be okay so i want to be able to give people hope and comfort as she did for us.
i think i am now goin to write a blog about that..
i have been meaning to but i never knew how to word it..
thanks for unintentionally helping me.
:]
thatgirl2089
No problem! Glad I could be inspiring :?!)
I have seen many pictures of before and after pictures of babies who have had surgery to repair a cleft lip. Hopefully your brother will be able to have the surgery and no one would ever know he ever had a birth defect.
It's great you've found your calling and that your brother is doing a lot better. It sounds like your first hand experiences will help you to succeed. At least something good came out of this something bad.
I'm so glad it had two happy endings!
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman
Brain injuries take years to recover fully from, but it's so cool to see al the progress he's making. He still has a long way to go, but he makes improvements all the time. Unfortunately he will never regain his site, but his CT scans now show all of the parts of his brain that are healing. The brain is very mysterious in how it can heal itself.
I've never really been a big "sharer" when it comes to the details of my life, but I'm thinking of doing another blog on traumatic brain injury.