Brain injuries cause lasting issues – Pamplin Media Group

March is Brain Injury Awareness Month. A fundraiser is planned for Sunday at Twiggs Martini Bar in Bridgeport

Brain injuries are complicated. There are no simple measures of treatment, and the injuries can create lasting challenges for people with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and their families.

March is Brain Injury Awareness month and Faith and Had Walmer of Lake Oswego want to share information about brain injuries with the community.

"Brain injuries are some of the least understood," Faith said. "It's an 'invisible disability.'" Had Walmer has a brain injury, the result of an auto accident he experienced in 1977.

"I was in college and wasn't wearing a seat belt," he said. "I was in a coma for a week."

His brain trauma continues, and he and Faith have developed support groups to deal with living with a brain injury. Had says meditation helps a great deal; he even teaches meditation to others with brain injuries.

"It helps me find a place and peace where I can come from and return to," he said.

The couple wants to make others aware of how easy brain injuries can occur, and how many go undetected.

"Lots of people have brain injuries and don't even know it," Faith said.

If you have experienced any forceful contact to your head and it disrupts your brain's natural functions, then you've experienced a traumatic brain injury, or TBI. The brain can be injured by other conditions, like infections and strokes, but those injuries are called "acquired brain injuries," or ABIs. They can be just as life altering as TBIs.

James C. Chesnutt is the medical director of Oregon Health & Science University's Sports Medicine Program and OHSU's Concussion Program and co-chairman of the OHSU TBI Initiative. He has been involved in concussion research, education and community outreach programs for concussions and sports injury awareness and prevention. He was also instrumental in helping to pass one of the first concussion state laws in the country in 2009, and a recent update in 2013.

According to Brainline.org, almost 1.7 million Americans sustain a TBI each year. Most people who are treated in an emergency room are released, but approximately 275,000 are admitted annually into the hospital. Additionally, each year more than 52,000 people die as a result of the TBI, and some 125,000 people are permanently disabled as a result of the injury.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate than at least 3.2 million Americans are permanently disabled as a result of TBIs each year.

The leading causes of TBIs are falls (35.2 percent), motor vehicle/traffic crashes (17.3 percent), strikes to or against the head (16.5 percent), assaults (11 percent) and unknown causes (21 percent). Blasts are the leading cause of TBI for active duty military personnel in war zones.

Males are approximately 1.5 times as likely as females to sustain a TBI, though Chesnutt says female soccer players are nearly as likely to sustain a concussion as male football players.

When a TBI occurs, anything having to do with your brain is potentially affected. Basic body functions like eating and sleeping can be altered, and the complex parts of your life like emotions, thoughts, and the ability to communicate can be disrupted.

In serious cases, TBI can affect the brain's electrical system, causing seizures and increasing the risk of Alzheimer's and Parkinson diseases.

Chesnutt said progress is being made in sports medicine to bring awareness about concussions to the forefront, and policies are in place for concussion recognition and management. The Oregon Plan, a state-wide concussion management program involving all high schools has established a state-wide network of physicians, uniform evaluation and management protocol, and consultation services for coaches, athletes, parents and physicians.

Treating a TBI isn't simple. The Institute of Medicine recognizes the hardships that TBI creates.

"Many people with TBI experience persistent, lifelong disabilities. For these individuals and their caregivers, finding needed services is, far too often, an overwhelming logistical, financial and psychological challenge. Individuals with TBI-related disabilities, their family members, and caregivers report substantial problems in getting basic services, including housing, vocational services, neurobehavioral services, transportation, and respite for caregivers. Yet efforts to address these issues are stymied by inadequate data systems, insufficient resources, and lack of coordination. TBI services are rarely coordinated across programs except in some service sites. Furthermore, in most states, there is no single entry point into TBI systems of care."

The Walmers have organized a fundraising event for Brain Injury Connections NW to take place Tuesday, March 28 at Twigs Bistro and Martini Bar in Bridgeport Village, 17003 S.W. 72nd Ave. in Tigard. The restaurant will donate 10 percent of customers' sales order to Brain Injury Connections NW with either a printed or electronic copy of this article.

To learn more about OHSU's brain injury program, visit ohsu.edu/xd/health/services/brain.

Contact Lake Oswego Review/West Linn Tidings reporter Barb Randall at 503-636-1281 ext. 100 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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Brain injuries cause lasting issues - Pamplin Media Group