About Wake Up Brain
Journaling brought me a lot of peace. When I would do it at the lake, I had to wear noise canceling headphones to tune out the sounds of boats, birds and other unexpected noise. Sunglasses were always needed outside as I was very sensitive to light. I couldn’t look at the water because the ripple effect in the water made me pass out. Sitting on the dock was also nauseating. A simple picture yet a lot going on.
Launched in 2021, the purpose of Wake Up Brain is to educate the public and spread awareness around concussions by sharing my own success and struggles during my continued recovery. I am not a doctor by any means and yet I believe my concussion experience makes me qualified to preach on this subject.
It was eye opening to me when I sustained my concussion of what the injury actually did to me compared to what I had thought it would do to me.
Joe’s perspective on concussion changes after meeting Lauren one month after her injury
It was also eye opening to me how the healthcare system left me feeling defeated, hopeless and without answers. The gap in the healthcare system with treatment plans was quite alarming! Once I found proper treatment, the professionals in the system who lacked proper concussion knowledge did not take the time to understand the methods that aided in my recovery which could potentially help others. That was also a catalyst for creating this website.
What started out as feelings of confusion and hopelessness, to being misunderstood by friends, family and medical professionals, ultimately led to seeing Gods grace in every part of the journey. If I wanted a successful recovery, I had to trust my gut instinct and be open minded to switch up the treatment that was no longer working for me. I developed a “not gonna give up attitude”. Through God’s providence, He led me to my A Team of doctors and concussion crew (new friends).
The journey has truly transformed and made me new. For that, I am grateful to the Lord.
Since the beginning of riding this concussion wave (shout out to Bo for coining this term. More to come in a future blog post), I found writing to be a therapeutic outlet for me. For a long time it was one of the only tasks I could tolerate too. Luckily it was one of the ways I could spill out my frustrations with the lack of knowledge in the world surrounding concussion/brain injuries. Writing was also a way for me to track my daily progress.
I celebrated the small victory’s by writing them down. This ignited hope. Even though I felt so hopeless the first 5 months of recovery, if I reflected on my progress journals, I could see I was slowly making progress. Deep down inside I had enough faith in myself and God to fight and not give up. I have hope that everyone suffering from a concussion can make a full recovery provided they receive proper care. I also have hope to one day make a full recovery. It’s proof in my progress journals that the wave I rode in the beginning of the journey is totally different than the wave I am riding now. This is progress. This is success.
I sustained my concussion on January 20, 2019. This was the start of riding the concussion wave and birth of Wake Up Brain.