Some of you may have heard about actress Evangeline Lilly’s traumatic brain injury (TBI) while she was vacationing in Hawaii (link to news story).  She is famous for her roles in Lost, Ant-Man and The Hobbit.  Evidently, Lilly had a history of fainting/passing out and, unfortunately, she fell face first into a boulder.  Her diagnosis was a concussion, which is a phrase interchangeable with a mild TBI.  Five months later, she was still having symptoms from the brain injury.  According to Lilly, imaging of her brain confirmed that “every area in [her] brain [was] functioning at a decreased capacity.”  Interestingly, the doctors must have tried to blame perimenopause at some point, but it was ruled that out in light of the imaging findings.  She is taking some time off from acting to rest and begin treatment so she can mitigate the issues from the TBI.We chose to highlight this story because of the parallels it has to many of the cases we see in our office, which include TBIs from car crashes (a person does not have to hit their head – the simple whipping back and forth in a whiplash injury is enough to cause a TBI) and slip and falls (these typically include the person hitting their head and potentially having bleeding in their brain).  We previously wrote in-depth about TBIs during Brain Injury Awareness month.

For those unlucky few who have symptoms past the first 7-14 days, unfortunately, the symptoms can last years.  While Ms. Lilly’s example was an extreme one with visible signs of an injury (the link shows her bloody and with a cracked tooth) and confirmed objective signs of damage (in the form of the imaging), often, a person sustains a TBI without visible signs of an injury, which is why it is also called an “invisible injury.”   For that reason, people do not believe the injured person since most of the symptoms (headaches, visual issues, cognitive dysfunction, mood disorder, etc.) all are experienced by the individual without any outward signs of trauma.

For people with a TBI, the most important thing post-injury is rest and therapy, both to help a person recover quicker and better.  For people living with someone with a TBI, give the person some grace because (as is the case with Ms. Lilly), the person will feel completely different than their prior, pre-injury self, which can be difficult.  To Ms. Lilly’s credit, she took it as an opportunity to step back from her career and work on herself, while taking a much needed reset.

From time to time, clients call and ask which type of cases we handle.  Our practice is built on referrals from satisfied clients.  We know that if we work hard and do a good job for our clients, they will tell their friends about us.  The best compliment from a former client is that client entrusting us with the potential case of their friend or family.  Our office specializes in the following cases:

1. Personal Injury (auto collisions, trucking, motorcycle, premise liability, dog bites, daycare)
2. Work Injuries
3. Traffic tickets and DUI/DWI

If you know someone that meets these criteria, please have them call our office.  If someone does not quite fit the above criteria, please still have the prospective referral give us a call as we can usually help the person find the right attorney via a referral.

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