Happie Heads

Skateboarding accident

In the summer of 2014, in his last year of college Steve was struck by a cyclist from behind while jogging across a bridge in Charleston, South Carolina. His injuries included: a subdural hematoma, a fractured skull, fractured vertebrae, and of course, a TBI. Upon arriving at the hospital, he was placed in a medically induced coma for several days. He lost his memory for the first few weeks, but s...

At the age of 16 in Old Forge, Pennsylvania Jean was in a car accident. She seemed to be recovering well until she began to have generalized seizures a year after her accident. Fortunately, she was able to see a neurologist and try out several anti-seizure medications until her seizures remitted. She was generally symptom free until this February of 2022 (48 years later) she experienced a second T...

In this episode we have the return of one of our first guests, Leia Tyrrell. Since our first conversation at the end of 2016, Leia has had several more TBI. We discuss the physical and psychological ramifications of these TBI, and many of the broader ideas that many TBI survivors think about on a daily basis. I hope you all enjoy!

One day, while Lydia was playing catch with her nephew she turned around to pick something up, an incoming throw from her nephew struck her in the back of her left ear. Immediately she was completely disoriented, and went into a state of shock. She never would have imagined she just suffered a TBI that would have lasting impacts on her day-to-day life. We discuss her journey navigating her life af...

In the summer of 2014, Jack was fresh out of high school and getting started on a fast track to become a paramedic firefighter. He was six weeks into the program when he headed toward home for a surprise visit. He was about halfway when he was struck head on by a drunk driver on Mt hood. He was in a five day coma, suffered a shattered face, radius, two amputated fingers on his right hand, lost vis...

In January of 2014 Lori had her tonsils removed, a routine surgery for most folks. While recovering at home, she had a severe reaction to the antibiotics and pain medications she was on and was found in her home by her boyfriend unresponsive. She was severely hypoxic and dehydrated, requiring interosseous hydration. At the trauma center in Duluth, MN, she was in a coma for 3 days and the ICU for 1...

Robyn is from a small town in southern Minnesota. One day, on a skiing trip way up north in the state she crashed full speed into a tree, and her head struck a rock when she made contact with the ground. She was sent to a local hospital and eventually life-flighted to Duluth where she received lifesaving surgery (including a craniectomy) and was in a coma for several days.  Her surgeon told her fa...

Ilona lives in the wild and open state of Montana and is passionate about environmentalism, literature, and sharing her passions with others. In 2012, she experienced her first TBI at the age of 55. In 2017, she walked into the overhang of a camper and briefly loss consciousness. This led to many symptoms including an altered visual perception of space. Because of this, she continued to hit her he...

  Deb is a medical student from Alberta, Canada. She is currently in her rotational years which means she is working directly with patients nearly every day. About a year ago Deb was driving home from a rotation and was hit head on by another driver. She suffered from a TBI involving diffuse axonal injury, a hemorrhage, and many other things. She also suffered from several (almost countless) broke...

Jim is currently a MD/PhD student at Oregon Health and Sciences University. He has recently defended his PhD on cerebrospinal fluid physiology or "sleep and its role in cleaning out the brain" as I call it. In addition to his scientific and medical background, Jim is a TBI survivor. One month before starting medical school he crashed his mountain bike while flying down a trail in Utah. He immediat...

AJ is a current Las Vegan (couldn't resist), although he is originally from Bend, Oregon. AJ was struck in the face by a pool filter that essentially exploded while he was attempting to repair it. He spent several weeks in the hospital and rehab. He doesn't remember much of anything for the first months after the accident, and uses the stories of his wife and family to reconstruct exactly what the...

Jeff has been on the podcast before, and is a functional neurologist at Northwest Functional Neurology in the Portland, OR area. This past spring, he gave a very impressive talk at the Brain Injury Alliance of Oregon about the metabolic and immunologic consequences of TBI. Since nutrition, lifestyle, and the gut/immune interface is so close to my heart, his talk struck a chord. This episode is ful...

Mr. Kracke is a one of a kind human being. He has so many hobbies, projects, and accomplishments that I find it difficult to know where to begin and when to end. This said, I will mention a few pertinent aspects of his life. He is a Portland based lawyer who currently works for the Center on Brain Injury Research and Training (CBIRT) as the Brain Injury Advocate coordinator after working as a pers...

Mr. Kracke is a one of a kind human being. He has so many hobbies, projects, and accomplishments that I find it difficult to know where to begin and when to end. This said, I will mention a few pertinent aspects of his life. He is a Portland based lawyer who currently works for the Center on Brain Injury Research and Training (CBIRT) as the Brain Injury Advocate coordinator after working as a pers...

Lorita may have the most complicated case I have seen. Fifteen years ago she was struck in the occipital bone of her skull by a heavy backpack that was swung like a medieval flail, and then immediately soccer kicked in the temple. She has been dealing with the repercussions of this every since. Some of these struggles are her gastroparesis which makes it very difficult to eat well or her complex r...

Jessy is the first dirt biker that I have had on the podcast. She crashed her bike while riding back in May of 2018. Although this may have caused some injury to the brain, far more damage was done when another biker behind her rode over her head (Jessy was wearing a helmet) with both tires of her bike. Amazingly, Jessy is back on her feet getting after it only 10 months later. In this episode we...

Heath Snyder has a lot of things going for him. He has six children who love him to death. He has an ability to articulate himself that many of us survivors desire. But his most valuable gift is a genuine desire to share his experience of fighting through a TBI with the world. When I say he wants to share I truly mean it. He has fought through several concussions including MVA's, football collisio...

Kahyra has had several TBI. In fact, she has had five concussions. In fact, all 5 have been while playing soccer. Some of the concussions are from getting pegged by the ball, and one involved a collision while going up for a header. In one instance, she temporarily lost all vision in one eye, potentially having suffered a torn retina. She grew up playing soccer and has been in love with the sport...

Marlana is an incredible girl who is excellent at articulating what it is like to face a TBI and the thoughts that go through one's mind throughout the recovery process. She crashed her car in Branson, MO three weeks into her senior year of high school while driving buzzed. We talk about how much our own decisions impact the lives of those around us and how even the most devastating chapters in li...

Jim is a northeastern dude through and through. If his accent doesn't give it away, his sense of humor will. In 2006, the night before the 4th of July, Jim decided to do some drinking with some friends and then drive home. Unfortunately, on his ride home, he crashed his car and ended up in the hospital for several months, remaining in a "eyes open" comatose state for several weeks as well. The mos...

Rik is a local Language and Speech Pathologist with a professorship at Pacific University. In addition to teaching, treating TBI survivors, and maintaining a social life, he also runs a bakery! What?! A bakery? Yes, pretty unique. A few years back he won an award at Pacific landing him a substantial amount of funds, which he decided to use towards a bakery in which people with TBI get to bake, cle...

 Jessica is super fun to talk to. She got did not get into an accident, nor did she have a congenital mishap (hydrocephalus or AV malformation). She instead got sick, and the infection got into her central nervous system. This caught me off guard, as I did not know this going into the conversation. What a unique story! And her personality is very fun and honest. Enjoy!

Isaac's story is unique. Isaac was an alcoholic, and one night he suffered from congestive heart failure which led to an anoxic insult to his central nervous system. Essentially, he died for a bit in his sleep. In this conversation we discuss the lessons he learned from this time, and how he carries himself forward in life now. We obviously also talk about his recovery story. Enjoy.   His story st...

Jason is a homie with a great spirit! He was raised in LA next to Dodgers Stadium (as you will hear in the story), and to this day bleeds Dodger blue. He was super fun to talk and a laid back, chill dude much like I try to be. I hope you enjoy our conversation, and laugh at both of our jokes! Enjoy.