Samona Combs
A new spin on the old saying, "you can do anything you put your mind to" is giving brain trauma survivors hope.
The Brain Injury Group's (B.I.G), second annual spring conference titled 'Faces of Brain Injury," was held Friday, April 28, 2006, and featured three key speakers. They each gave an account of their experiences as people with brain injuries, and answered audience questions during a discussion panel.
Virginia Walker, B.I.G's advisor, said, "Dr. Stephen Thimming, Ann O'Connell, and Kara Swanson were asked to speak by the executive board because they each had an inspirational message."
Walker explained that the main goal of the conference was to allow the speakers to touch student survivors by helping them think B.I.G about the lives they could lead after their injuries.
" The students realize that they would like to be more like these survivors; they want to excel in spite of their injuries, " she said
Kara Swanson, the Author of "I'll Carry the Fork: Recovering Life After Brain Injury " told conference patrons how they could move on from their traumatic experience by accepting it as something that was meant to happen in their lives.
" We could spend the rest of our lives asking why, any of us about anything, " Swanson said, "But in order to live a better life, you have to start asking better questions than why because it has no promise or hope."
B.I.G. wants to help students cultivate those questions, so to show their support they will give brain injury survivors more food for thought throughout the year.