Meaningful Marketing: Spreading TBI Awareness Through Memoir

Raising TBI Awareness With Memoir: From Hospital Bed to Bookshelf

How’s this for a hot take?

A debut self-published author without an audience platform and with an unedited book can shake up the conversation about Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) in a crowded market.

This goes against conventional wisdom in the publishing industry.

Literary agents and agencies, non-profit organizations, B2B/B2C marketers, and even educators would all reject this idea outright.

But this is about more than boldness for its own sake because:

In this 10,200-word article, I’ll demonstrate how to authentically and ethically market a book that tackles a sensitive subject while raising awareness for it at the same time.

It takes about 34 minutes or so for the average reader to get through content like this.

Full disclosure: Although I will be heavily referencing my newly published memoir, The Hayden Diary: Chasing The Prom From A Hospital Bed, I aim to use the book to foster TBI awareness.

Two good questions to ask right away are: 

1. Why is this not on a separate website? 
2. And why is it so long?

Location and Length: A Memory Aid

Addressing each question in the manner they were asked, it’s here:

1. Because I need this message to reach professionals where they’re at, which is the essence of marketing, and;
2. So I can recall everything without omitting important details.

I realize such lengthy content would work better as a series of shorter articles. That way, I can:

• Build a following, and;
• Gain authority.

But having this as a single piece makes my thought process less fragmented, even if it reduces effectiveness. 

Effectiveness? What am I trying to achieve here?

The Objective: Raising TBI Awareness

To be absolutely clear:

I’m raising TBI awareness with my book, not profit.

You’re welcome to share this piece as you wish, so buckle up. We’re going on a value-packed journey across many domains: publishing, marketing, healthcare, and advocacy.

Let’s begin this article with a disclaimer.

An Advisory: For Legal Reasons

While this isn’t exactly a ringing endorsement of what’s to follow, it’s very necessary because:

The views and opinions expressed in this article belong solely to its author and do not constitute medical advice. Consult your physician or another healthcare professional before making changes to your care.

Disclaimers are a harsh reality when you discuss anything as sensitive as healthcare when you’re not a medical professional.

There’s also a hard truth about book publishing. And this one doesn’t need a disclaimer.

The Truth About Publishing: A Reality Check

The award-winning author, David Elliott, once told me that nothing happens when you get published—this is the ugly truth. 

Because, when you publish a book:

• There’s no fanfare;
• There are no book signings, and;
• There are no screaming superfans.

That’s only if you:

• Have an established audience, and/or;
• Heavily advertise the release.

Whether you use a publishing house or self-publish, you’re expected to help market the book if you want it to be successful.

But there’s a unique challenge when it comes to marketing a book centered on TBI awareness. And that’s raising awareness through demonstration about the reality of what it means to live with one.

You may have heard about TBI in passing, especially in discussions about Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) and its link to sports. It was on the news earlier this year. 

That’s a related but distinct condition from TBI.

So, what is TBI?

Define: TBI

TBI is a form of brain damage classified according to how it was sustained: a violent jolt to the skull. In my case, eating the business end of an oncoming Ford F-150 scrambled my mind.

As a result, info-carrying nerve fibers called axons were torn (sheared) across a wide area in both hemispheres of my brain as it darted around in my skull from the abrupt deceleration of the crash.

This is a textbook example of a Diffuse Axonal Injury (DAI), which is a common subcategory of TBI.

And it’s one of the worst types. 

Because I was the passenger in a T-bone-style car accident, I took the brunt of the damage. The driver, my older brother, was physically unharmed. According to my mother, my bloodied head rested in his lap at the scene. He got to return home the very night of the accident. Fate had other plans for me. There was one other passenger in the vehicle named Damien. He suffered a few broken ribs and struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder in the wake of the accident.

If DAI stands for diffuse axonal injury, what are axons?

Define: Axons

Axons can be conceptualized in the following analogy:

Imagine your brain is a road network spread out over islands. Before data-heavy vehicles (nerve impulses called action potentials) can hit the main highways (axons) they must wait at crucial traffic lights (axon hillocks).

The traffic lights (axon hillocks) decide if the conditions are right for vehicles (action potentials) to proceed onto highways (axons).

Close-up of axons, axon hillocks, and axon terminals. This image was modified via screenshot and the original uploader is ASCCC OERI, CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0>, via Flickr

As these vehicles (action potentials) approach the highways’ (axons’) end, they reach departure points (axon terminals). 

Instead of the highways simply extending to other roads when vehicles reach these areas, there’s a unique feature here: ferries with water gaps. These water gaps represent synapses.

While the highways (axons) come to an end, the journey of the vehicles (action potentials) isn’t over.

Pressing On: Action Potentials’ Journey

As I said, at these departure points (axon terminals), specialized ferry services are initiated. Representing neurotransmitters, these ferries convey messages across the water gaps (synapses).

This image was modified by screenshot and the original uploaders are Young, KA., Wise, JA., DeSaix, P., Kruse, DH., Poe, B., Johnson, E., Johnson, JE., Korol, O., Betts, JG., &  Womble, M., CC BY 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

The messages sent from the axon terminals contain coded data that the vehicles (action potentials) transported along the highways (axons).

On the other side of the ferry, there are receiving stations (the dendrites). They manage the incoming traffic, decode the message’s data, and get ready for the next vehicles (action potentials) to start their journey. 

Before they do, they wait at the traffic light (axon hillock) for the go-ahead. This is a lot to take in, so a recap is always helpful. 

In a Nutshell: The Axonal Communication Process

To piece it all together:

1. Receiving stations (dendrites) detect incoming traffic.
2. Vehicles (action potentials) wait at the traffic lights (axon hillocks) for the green light so they can hit the highways (axons).
3. They (action potentials) speed down the highways (axons).
4. At the end (axon terminals), they (action potentials) dispatch messages (coded data) via the ferry service (neurotransmitters) across water gaps (synapses).
5. The next neuron’s receiving station (dendrites) picks up these messages (coded data), prepping for more vehicles (action potentials), starting with another wait at the traffic lights (axon hillocks).
6. And so, the cycle goes on.

It’s important to realize that analogies aim to simplify complex processes, so, my analogy here doesn’t capture the particulars of axonal interaction.

The point of the analogy is: what makes DAI so deadly is that it disrupts this communication process, destroying parts of the brain’s bridges altogether.

This often ends up with patients:

• Falling into comas; 
• Falling into vegetative states, and/or; 
• Being left with permanent disabilities, and/or;
• Dying.

Cutting Communication: DAI

By the name alone, DAI implies there has been widespread damage to these bridges (axons). If we’re continuing the analogy, let’s say this damage was acquired from an earthquake.

This extensive destruction onset by the quake shutters the flow of traffic (action potentials), leading to big traffic jams and stranded vehicles.

• With bridges (axons) damaged, traffic (action potentials) must find alternate routes, leading to delays and inefficiencies. 
• Creating new receiving stations (axon terminals) becomes crucial to reestablish communication. This can be a process with no guarantee of success.
• The islands (neurons) become isolated due to the broken bridges (damaged axons). They cannot send or receive coded data (messages from neurotransmitters). Much like residents on an isolated island, neurons suffer from a lack of supplies and information if new routes to receiving stations aren’t identified.

And the thing is: just as cars can break down without fuel, neurons can die if they can’t communicate for long periods of time. 

Lack of Axon Communication: Death or Close to It

As I mentioned earlier, because DAI disrupts axon communications, it can lead to neuronal cell death. 

According to the National Libraries of Medicine (NLM), this is part of the reason why many survivors of severe DAI are profoundly impaired. We rarely regain independence—much less, return to school or work. 

About one of every two hospital admissions for TBI also has DAI as part of the condition, with many patients, including me, ending up in a coma and/or persistent vegetative state.

That statistic comes from Eric Su’s and Michael Bell’s chapter in Translational Research in Traumatic Brain Injury: Frontiers in Neuroscience, which was edited by Laskowitz and Grant.

Even if two people have TBI with DAI, though, it doesn’t mean their injuries are equal to one another.

Uniquely Unequal: Two Classes of Brain Injury

To start with, there are two classes of brain injury:

1. Acquired: Acquired brain injuries, as its namesake suggests, are brain injuries that happen through some sort of triggering event, like a car accident, sports mishap, stroke, etc.
2. Congenital: Congenital brain injuries are damage you’re born with. Hydrocephalus, for example, is a condition that can cause congenital brain injuries. Cerebral palsy is another.

I have an acquired TBI. Keep in mind that the severity of acquired brain injuries isn’t necessarily worse than one another.

Each injury is unique, depending on the specific areas of the brain affected. Medical professionals categorize acquired injuries in two different ways:

1. Open: Open injuries occur when something penetrates the skull, such as a bullet or edged object, and;
2. Closed: Closed injuries are caused by rapid movement of the brain, such as concussions. Closed brain injuries are also induced by road traffic accidents, falls, violence, and sports incidents.

I have the latter of the two, but my DAI was a grade three. That means it was a severe closed and acquired TBI with the highest mortality rate.

That rate is 44.1%.

To put this into perspective, virtually flip this coin on Google. If you click the link, a new tab will open up and a coin will flip automatically on your screen.

Heads, you live. Tails, you die.

That was basically the kind of uncertainty I was facing.

My survival created an enormous ripple effect in all areas of my life.

Grade Three DAI: It’s Significance

I mentioned my DAI was graded as a three. To truly appreciate the impact of my brain damage going forward, it’s helpful to understand how medical professionals grade DAI.

DAI is graded on a scale of 1-3. The grading relies on just how widespread the damage is.

Grade One DAI:

The brain damage has reached the grey and white matter of the brain. Grey matter is parts of the brain where things like movement, speech, and other hallmarks of cognition take place.

White matter is what enables communication between areas of grey matter. It is found in deeper areas of the brain, whereas grey matter is found at the surface level.

Grade Two DAI: 

Grade two DAI has all of the characteristics of grade one DAI with the presence of larger axonal damage in the corpus callosum.

The corpus callosum is the dense white matter that connects both cerebral hemispheres of the brain. It’s basically axon central, meaning there’s a large concentration of axons in that area.

This is a graphic of half of the brain. The corpus callosum is near the center. This image was modified via screenshot and the original uploader is CNX OpenStax, CC BY 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.

Grade Three DAI:

All of the characteristics of grade one and two DAI are present in grade three DAI, but there’s also damage in the brainstem. That’s an area of the brain responsible for essential functions, including sleep, consciousness, blood pressure, breathing, etc.

Other assessments and tools are used to grade DAI, but these are the broad strokes. Suffice it to say that grade three DAI’s impact is profound.

Resounding Impact: Grade Three DAI 

The effects of moderate to severe DAI are long-lasting to lifelong.

And, according to the CDC, although I survived, my life expectancy has been shortened by nine years. 

This makes sense in light of the fact that approximately 90% of patients with severe DAI will never “wake up” (regain consciousness), and those that do (usually) have formidable limitations. 

To put the CDC’s data into meaningful terms, the average lifespan for Americans is about 76 years. And with the retirement age for Social Security being 67 years:

This means I’m expected to die even before I can claim full retirement benefits.

I’m aware that life expectancies represent a statistical average and that they don’t specifically predict how long I’ll live. It’s just the CDC’s prediction for when people like me start dropping off.

I don’t dispute this.

Although you may not be able to tell right away from my writing, my health challenges stemming from my brain damage are immense.

Having this as a backdrop, how do you even market a story like it with a narrative a broad readership can follow? It’s complex.

The Hayden Diary’s USP: A Different Kind of Memoir

Complex backdrops can be explained through stories.

And when it comes to marketing a story about TBI awareness, your book has to be unique to get attention. This is especially true in markets that tend to be oversaturated, such as memoirs.

Certainly, The Hayden Diary is different from most books like it:

• It’s different because, for the majority of the book, I faithfully show you what happened—I don’t tell you; 
• It’s different because many of these kinds of narratives are written years after the events that incited them, and;
• It’s different because memoirs about TBI aren’t usually penned by 18-year-olds while they’re in high school.

So, The Hayden Diary has a sound unique selling proposition (USP). How did it get that USP?

Special Details: How The Hayden Diary Got Its USP

The USP goes a little something like this:

See, I had just turned 17 in September at the time of the accident, which occurred in October 2006—my senior year. 

After a multiple-month coma and persistent vegetative state, followed by intensive physical, occupational, and speech therapies, I started my manuscript in July 2007.

This was right after I was discharged from inpatient rehab in May 2007. Fast-forward to a half year later and I thought the book was finished by November 2007.

But what I had in November 2007 was just the beginning. 

This is a 3-D stacked bar chart in magenta and grape, showing a timeline from May 2007 to August 2008 on the Y-axis. It represents the stages of my book’s development, with bars indicating progress in that development on the X-axis. Notably, there’s no final stage—the book wasn’t published in 2008, only finished.

I expanded the memoir into four more parts in the months that followed as I discovered I had more to say about the experience, soliciting expertise from medical professionals. 

I officially ended the book in August 2008, two months after high school graduation. 

Given the fact that I had just spent basically the entire school year in inpatient rehab, I was allowed to join the graduation ceremony for Manchester Central High School’s class of 2007—my original class. The diploma I’m getting here is a blank one; I earned a genuine one next year. I had prepared a graduation speech when I was in inpatient rehabilitation, and I had fully prepared myself to speak in front of the entire class. I didn’t realize that such events were already planned out. I did address the whole 2,500-student school the next year in the annual assembly honoring Memorial Day reading a poem I wrote for the occasion since my original intention was to join the United States Army after graduation. My guidance counselor referenced this moment in that crowded auditorium in my college recommendation letter as being so quiet, “you could hear a pin drop.”

There’s more to the USP, but I’ll get to that later.

With that said, who could I have written the book for? I was only 18 then—much of the book is geared toward that demographic.

Target Audience: Who Can Benefit From the Memoir?

My story offers value to: 

• Healthcare pros;
• Rehab specialists;
• Educators;
• Caregivers;
• Families;
• Teens, and;
• Young adults.

But there’s a reason why it appeals to these groups: a medical side effect that’s common in people with TBI called disinhibition.

Disinhibition: Not Just For TBI Survivors

More specifically, It appeals to the above groups because the book’s narrative demonstrates the dangers of disinhibition. Disinhibition is the (neuro)psychological term for the total lack of social restraint. 

It’s common for TBI survivors to experience this. In fact:

The NLM specifies that 30% of all TBI patients experience disinhibition. 

I’m part of that 30%. Big time.

Disinhibition isn’t unique to TBI, though. It’s often seen in many other conditions affecting the young and old alike, including:

• ADHD;
• Alzheimer’s disease;
• Autism spectrum disorder; 
• Bipolar disorder;
• Frontotemporal Dementia;
• Tourette’s syndrome. 

Disinhibition can even be triggered by a garden variety of factors that alter your brain’s functioning status, among which are:

• Intense emotional states (e.g. my passion for TBI awareness causes me to overshare personal and/or private information);
• Alcohol and substance use (e.g. alcohol makes it more difficult to consider consequences), and;
• Environmental factors (e.g. social media anonymity allows action without immediate face-to-face ramifications).

For me, with my TBI, I don’t always know when disinhibition (or when acting outside of the norm) is socially acceptable. This can make identifying it difficult.

And it’s why it’s helpful to know the telltale signs of disinhibition.

Disinhibition: What Constitutes It

Disinhibition can manifest in many ways, such as: 

• Poor decision-making;
• Lack of impulse control;
• Reckless behavior;
• Inappropriate comments; 
• Lack of etiquette; 
• Difficulty reading social cues, and;
• Oversharing.

You can see some of these symptoms in everyday behavior but disinhibition can be more easily identified in professional settings.

In those spaces, you’re expected to act a certain way. There’s a well-defined social structure.

So, it’s easy to point out disinhibition in the workplace, but what does that look like specifically? What does “professional disinhibition” look like?

Define: “Professional” Disinhibition

In a real-life example of how my disinhibition plays out in professional settings, please consider that even the way I’ve written this article is an act of “professional” disinhibition, or disinhibition in an employment setting.

I’m oversharing personal information. It’s unbecoming and unprofessional, especially on a platform like LinkedIn, where industry veterans and thought leaders are often pressed for time. 

I must clarify that disinhibition can’t always be controlled. The extent to which a person is aware of this mental byproduct when it occurs varies by case and context.

This is similar to how the effects of brain injuries differ from person to person.

So, it’s possible to know that I’m engaged in an act of disinhibition. It begs to question, then, if I’m self-aware it’s happening, how is it any different from plain old poor behavior?

Being Self-Aware: Still Disinhibition

So, as for me being aware that publishing this article can be harmful to my professional image? That’s still disinhibition, even if I’m aware it’s happening.

Why?

Because it’s a decision people without disinhibition wouldn’t make.

I struggle with any combination of the above-listed symptoms and more on a daily basis at a given moment. 

Socially acceptable places where disinhibition is permitted are in journals, diaries, and blogs. What you see here is the diary that inspired the book. It’s the actual Hayden diary. In this particular section of the diary, it shows the last entry I made before the accident on 10/27/2006, and the first entry I made after the accident on 04/23/2007. I remember writing this particular entry in the dining hall of the inpatient rehab facility where I was housed following the accident. What’s striking here is the penmanship change.

It’s critical that this piece gets out, in my opinion. And I’m not about to let the personal implications of my oversharing stop me from publishing this article or my book.

• That’s a lack of social restraint. 
• That’s 100% disinhibition. 

Or, more precisely, this is 100% professional disinhibition. I’m choosing to publicize both pieces of writing at the risk of my personal, interpersonal, and professional reputation.

If I can be aware disinhibition is happening, are there physical symptoms to help recognize it?

What Disinhibition Is Like: A Primer

For me, there aren’t any physical signs to help me know it’s happening in real time. It just feels like any other decision, and because of that, I feel like misplaced decisions aren’t bad choices. 

With that in mind, the implication is that even this article is a misplaced decision. And it may very well be. It’s not a choice a person without my condition would make.

So, to oversimplify this mental event:

Disinhibition is a lot like being under the influence without actually being intoxicated. “Sober disinhibition,” if you will.

This is not a perfect comparison by any means.

But it’s one I chose because it’s useful for helping people understand disinhibition who might be unfamiliar with the condition.

In truth, it might actually be harmful because it’s establishing a connection between disinhibition and alcohol indulgence. My decision to keep this comparison despite knowing the stigma it may reinforce for others with the condition is disinhibition in itself. But I hold firm that public understanding outweighs the negatives. 

This mental circumstance doesn’t happen all of the time, mind you, but when it does, it’s often noticeable by others, not necessarily yourself.

The line between disinhibition and the bad choices an otherwise “healthy person” might make is thin. This makes it hard to suss out disinhibition from disinhibited behavior.

If disinhibition can be easily confused, and if I’m sometimes aware of when it’s happening, is there anything I can do to head it off?

It’s Tricky: Preempting Disinhibition

It can be tough to get a handle on disinhibition because, at times, it’s so subtle and so quick that it can easily be mistaken for ordinary behavior. 

I’ve alluded to this earlier.

Remember when I said that I struggle with the symptoms of disinhibition at any given moment? 

It really is any given moment:

It’s like activating a device’s airplane mode feature. In airplane mode, wireless communication is disabled. The device is rendered unable to send or receive inputs. And when disinhibition happens, my brain can’t fully comprehend social cues or consequences. Just as a device can exit airplane mode, my brain will resume its usual processes after disinhibition just as quick.

Unlike airplane mode, though, you can’t just “activate” this condition whenever you want. 

That said, is there another instance of professional disinhibition I could point to besides this article?

Professional Disinhibition: Another Example

Think about the above analogies—airplane mode and sober disinhibition—in a different example of professional disinhibition.

In 2019, I borrowed books from the marketing library at MESH Interactive for a copywriting project. 

While getting the books I needed, the radio nearby was playing “Man In The Box,” by Alice In Chains. This toggled my brain’s airplane mode.

This is an X-ray taken around the time the accident occurred because you can see the outline of a manual resuscitator in my mouth. This was because I was not breathing on my own after the accident—I punctured a lung. And so, I had to have a tracheotomy. But because the tracheotomy was performed when I was in a coma, as the type of TBI I experienced—a grade 3 DAI—can cause near-instant coma, it caused permanent damage to my voice. This is because certain tracheostomies are supposed to be temporary. So, as a consequence, my vocal cords sustained damage. My vocal cords don’t fully close when they should be able to, which makes my voice sound different from most people. When you add this to my tendency to feel disinhibition, it can lead to some misconceptions and false assumptions about me.

What I did next was dance to that song in front of the whole crew as they tried to work. Granted, this was 30 minutes or so before lunch, but in retrospect, it wasn’t appropriate conduct. 

A casual observer might brush this off as eccentric behavior—that it’s my personality—but given the context, it’s absolutely disinhibition. 

A somewhat tame example of professional disinhibition, I admit, but this mental state can have a more pronounced influence. 

Disinhibition: It Matters More Than You May Think

If these examples seem mild to you—that the impact of disinhibition is not a big deal—please consider:

I don’t drive. This isn’t because I can’t—I’m sure I’m capable—but it’s more of a public safety issue. 

You need quick reflexes and quicker decision-making skills to ensure you’re not going to injure and/or kill anyone when you’re behind the wheel.

My specific case of disinhibition predisposes me to make poor decisions. When this is coupled with reckless behavior and lack of impulse control, it’s dangerous for pedestrians, other drivers, and myself. That’s a big deal. 

Having said that, when disinhibition is present, as it turns out, the (neuro)psychological processes “pulling the strings” are something called the executive functions.

My Misguided Decisions: The Executive Functions

Psychology Today defines the executive functions as:

” … a set of cognitive processes and mental skills that help an individual plan, monitor, and successfully execute their goals.”

There are three main executive functions:

• Working memory;
• Cognitive flexibility, and;
• Inhibition control

And I have major problems in all of them, which presents unique challenges in my job as a copywriter. 

Executive (Dys)function On-The-Job:

Here’s how executive dysfunction shows up in my job performance:

Working Memory:

The accident caused permanent short-term memory loss. And although short-term memory and working memory are different, working memory relies on short-term memory. Because I have difficulty recalling information, this shows up in my writing because I get so wrapped up in it that I get distracted from the parameters of an assignment.

Cognitive Flexibility: 

Cognitive flexibility is all about problem-solving and alternating between different tasks at the same time. Part of the job description as a marketer and content creator is the idea of aligning your writing with Ideal Customer Profiles (ICPs). ICPs are multidimensional, so creating content that adheres to more than one idea at a time than one idea is challenging for me.

Inhibitory Control:

Inhibitory control concerns focusing attention on doing the appropriate thing to solve the task at hand; it’s impulse control—the airplane mode analogy I used earlier. It’s me dancing while everybody is working. 

The executive functions are also responsible for making decisions.

Think Fast: Executive Functions For Quick Decisions

To be more specific, the executive functions regulate your ability to make quick decisions. For example, when choosing the words that appear in marketing collateral, such as blog posts, you need to be careful in the language you use.

I remember when I first began an internship at MESH Interactive, in the first few pieces I wrote for the company as practice blog drafts, I insulted the reader. I reached for easily accessible words because they were quicker to recall.

It wasn’t my intention to insult the reader.

I didn’t understand how I could’ve done this because it wasn’t as if I called the reader names, used slang, or said curse words. 

It turned out that I wasn’t careful with what my words might imply. 

This is professional disinhibition. 

Going forward, any time when professional disinhibition is present, it’ll be represented by the 👔 emoji. That way, I won’t have to keep mentioning it every time it shows up. 

The broader point is this: 

Disinhibition can have serious consequences; it’s not just the faux pas of dancing in an inappropriate setting or willfully disclosing personal info to illustrate an idea.

All of these are solid real-life examples, and I could give you more. Given that disinhibition isn’t special, and anybody is vulnerable to it, who exactly is the most at risk?

Predisposed to Disinhibition: Teens

As I mentioned, disinhibition isn’t unique to TBI; disinhibited behaviors can be experienced regardless of any medical condition. 

This is known as behavioral disinhibition. It’s related, but separate from disinhibited behavior since the former tends to last for longer periods and the latter tends to be episodic—situational.

It’s not uncommon for teens to be especially prone to behavioral disinhibition as they test the boundaries of what they’re capable of, which is generated by hormones during adolescence. 

Mary Muscari, author of Child Behavioral and Parenting Challenges For Advanced Practice Nurses refers to this in a chapter called “Adolescent Angst.”

The fact that teens are prone to disinhibition is confirmed by the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) finding that the brain doesn’t fully mature until the mid-to-late twenties.

Being young has deep connections to my recovery process because I had to relearn how to walk, talk, eat, drink, behave, go to the bathroom, etc.

Young Again: Literally Reliving Childhood

Like a child learning how to behave, after I got hurt, it took about one to two years for my brain to (mostly) figure out what’s appropriate and what’s not. 

This research from the NLM bears that out.

Being that The Hayden Diary was started and finished within this timeframe, it gives readers the unique opportunity to revive, rehabilitate, and become a young adult with me in real time. 

Readers get to literally see my brain and cognition adjust at the same time the writing does as they progress through the different parts of the book.

This all adds to The Hayden Diary’s USP. 

My memoir has the potential to add value to the conversation about TBI awareness, as well as the issue of identity—being a teen who’s newly disabled and also on the cusp of legal adulthood. 

This positions the book in territory precious few can claim in the same way. With such a competitive edge, you might wonder why I am just publishing it now, instead of way back when. 

The Long Wait: 15 Years in the Making

Is the reason why The Hayden Diary has a publication gap also because of disinhibition?

Not quite.

This is a picture of me playing virtual reality with my good hand in January 2007 after the Celtics game. I couldn’t use my left hand because of the extreme flexion in my elbow and wrist. On my lap is a letterboard—a laminated sheet of paper where I would point to corresponding letters to form a message. I’m in a wheelchair because my legs couldn’t support standing yet, so I moved around using my feet. And, because my standing muscles were weak, I first learned how to navigate with my wheelchair going backward because it engages a different muscle group. In other words, my learning to use a wheelchair incorrectly was not due to disinhibition. 

Since 2008, my book has been stored in my computer files for 15 years as I prioritized outpatient rehab, further schooling, and my work life during that time. 

Being such, this was the only time I could publish my book. I’m proud of what I’ve done, so marketing my book is fun.

And for a simple reason.

The coming sales numbers are about more than the amount of product sold:

• They’re about promise;
•  They’re about possibilities, and;
•  They’re about potentially raising TBI awareness.

They’re also about your contributions to generating attention for the broader problem at hand.

The Problem: TBI Awareness Gaps

Understanding the scope of the need for TBI awareness often begins with facts.

And did you know that according to the CDC, there were almost 𝟕𝟎,𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝐓𝐁𝐈-𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐬 in 2021? That figures out to be 𝟏𝟗𝟎 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐬 𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐚𝐲. 

These numbers ring true when you consider that TBI is linked to 30% of all injury deaths. 

This isn’t insignificant, especially since car accidents are a substantial cause of TBI. About 1.5+ million people in the United States sustain a TBI each year. 

It adds to the 5.3+ million individuals living in the USA with a brain injury-related disability, myself included. 

In January 2007, I attended a Boston Celtics game in box seats, invited by a client’s father from the rehab hospital where I was treated. In a photo from the event, my physical therapist, Krystal, and I are visible, along with my tracheostomy tube. You can literally see it protruding from my neck. I was still in a wheelchair at this time, but the seating we had wasn’t accessible, so, to get around, I relied on Krystal and another healthcare worker to get around, effectively using them as “crutches” (their words, not mine), because I was that much taller than them. At 6”1, I was the tallest client in the rehab unit. I didn’t believe that for one minute, because I didn’t think 6”1 was actually that tall. To a certain extent, I still don’t.

Point blank: The NIH indicates that “TBI due to accidents or sports is the leading cause of death and disability in children and young adults in the United States.”

Considering all of these facts, the data suggests there are TBI awareness gaps. An educational effort is paramount, which starts with you.

Support TBI Awareness: What You Can Do Right Now

Here’s the thing: you can easily support The Hayden Diary’s goal of raising TBI awareness. 

It’s as effortless as simply sharing this article. 

Why?

Because TBI awareness matters and this article does a great job of illustrating why it’s important.

Alternatively, you may choose to buy my book. It should be widely available at the following retailers and wholesalers:

• Amazon Kindle;
• Apple Books;
• Barnes & Noble;
• Kobo;
• BookBaby Bookshop;
• Scribd;
• Ciando;
• eSentral;
• Baker & Taylor;
• Libby
• Copia;
• Gardners, and;
• Vearsa

If my book isn’t listed at any of the above places, give it a few days—it can take as long as four weeks for some vendors to create a listing.

It’ll also be on the social book review platform Goodreads if you want to see what others have to say about it. 

Given that I’m launching my book right now, there won’t be much in the way of reviews as of yet. I trust there will be later, as more and more people read my book. 👔

This is not wise, though, because many authors send out advance review copies of their books to have reviews in hand by launch. 

But I’m not. 👔

Because profit isn’t the goal.

The Goal: Awareness Over Profit

Publishing this book has never been about money. 

So, any sales profit I get if you buy The Hayden Diary will be reinvested into its marketing to help spread its message. This helps raise TBI awareness.

This novel-length work is an eBook only at this time. 👔

Not the best move, provided impact is the goal. 

Per The Pew Research Center’s insight, only three in ten Americans read eBooks. 

This means that by making The Hayden Diary available solely as an eBook, I’m missing out on a hefty chunk of readers. Even my core audience—teens and young adults—prefer print books. 

I decided on an eBook because they’re accessible to more people, despite my audiences preferring print. 👔F

Besides, limited resources prevented me from making my book available in multiple formats. If I knew I had limited resources, you might ask me why I wrote it in the first place.

Why did I write The Hayden Diary?

Why I Wrote It: A Love Letter to Nursing Staff

I wrote my memoir all those years ago for a few reasons, including:

• The nursing pros of the Crotched Mountain Rehabilitation Center (the place where I did inpatient rehab), and;
• The way they cared for me while balancing their duties at the same time. 

The nursing staff was an enormous reason why I authored my book, but it’s not the only reason. Writing is also a common way to process trauma. 

For example, I remember when I was an inpatient at Crotched Mountain, I would write sad poems in my off time and share them with any staff who’d read them.

These poems were about fictitious people in desperate and hopeless situations like being lost in the desert without water. 

This was how the entrance to Lower Hayden—Crotched Mountain’s young adult unit—looked. Inside these doors are where the events of The Hayden Diary unfold. I came back to Crotched Mountain for a neuropsychological evaluation to determine the services Manchester Central High School would provide for me in the 2007-2008 school year. The thing was, though, Crotched Mountain had already run a neuropsychological evaluation in early 2007 to determine my limitations—that’s what they’re for. And they’re only really useful if they are taken once in the span of a year. So, the Manchester school district ordering another eval when the results from my last one weren’t even cold, was pointless. I think it was to have something on record on their end since the one I took when I was at Crotched Mountain is protected health information. As such, they wouldn’t have access to that.

I think, subconsciously, I was giving voice to the distress I was feeling after missing my senior year as I recovered as an inpatient. And I was sharing my poetry because I wanted those feelings validated.

Whatever the case, the nursing staff went above the call of duty and left a strong impression on me by reading my writing. That essence led me to write The Hayden Diary, which made me aware of how much of a problem disinhibition is. 

How exactly will my book drive TBI awareness, though? And how will I measure that?

Sales as a Measure of Awareness:

Sales aren’t the only measure of awareness—I get that—but I can use this number to gauge my book’s reach.

That said, this doesn’t mean I’m not going to try to generate as big an impact as possible with this book.

So… 

• I need to make this big.
• I need to make this real big.
• I need to make this big so people care more about TBIs.

And I can’t do that without your 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩. 

See, my book’s reach grows each time this article is 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝. It’s part of my word-of-mouth marketing strategy to raise TBI awareness—to make it big.

Define: “Making It Big”

“Making it big” is about how success is defined.

To that end, publishers and literary agencies define success through a variety of metrics—total book sales being one. For example:

According to literary agent, Jane Dystel, a successful book sells approximately 15,000+ copies in its lifetime—25,000+ being “sensational.”

Admittedly, that benchmark refers to print books because eBook sales are measured in downloads, not copies.

So, for someone like me who’s selling a non-fiction title without an audience platform, a more representative statistic is:

1,000 downloads in five years.

But:

1,000 downloads in my book’s lifetime is good enough for me.

That’s four times the amount the average self-publisher sells in a given title’s lifetime. That said, there’s much more to a book’s success than its sales, and that’s impact.

1,000 downloads of The Hayden Diary is plenty because it shows me that my book left a lasting impression on its readers.

Impact can promote awareness, but I can only do so much by myself from my book alone. 

Let’s Do This: Lend Your Voice For TBI Awareness:

You may choose to do your part in raising TBI awareness—you’re welcome to share this article. 

If you do wind up buying my book—you can preview 100% of it on Google via Google Books for free—an honest review of it goes a long way.  

I do know algorithms don’t treat negatively-rated books kindly, but if you want to leave a review, it doesn’t have to be positive. 

More power to you. 

Having said that:

• If you think my book sucks—brilliant. Let others know.
• If you think my book’s great—inspired. Let others know.
• If you think my book’s meh—outstanding. Let others know.

For the right or wrong reasons, reviews help to make The Hayden Diary big. To complement the right ones, I’ll be reaching out to various book influencers and bloggers in the coming weeks.

Unlike traditional reviews, which usually say what readers like or don’t like about a book, these are editorial reviews.

Editorial Reviews: Good as Traditional Reviews

Editorial reviews tend to be focused on the reader and used by publishers for marketing collateral. These are a big part of my marketing strategy.

Eventually, I’d like to see how The Hayden Diary fares at top-tier publishing and self-publishing review publications, including:

• Kirkus Reviews;
• Foreword Reviews;
• Clarion Reviews;
• Reader’s Favorite;
• IndieReader, and;
• Self-Publishing Review.

Such reviewers don’t guarantee a positive review. And if I get poor feedback, my plan is to leave it up, not to hide it or deemphasize it. 

You have an option at these places whether to publicize a review if it’s not positive. Be that what it will, this move breeds transparency. 

Transparency: My Motivation For Marketing

You may wonder why I would do that—showcase bad reviews. The reason is simple:

Ethically speaking, people have a right to know exactly what they’re buying. Regardless of whether they think my book is effective at raising TBI awareness, they’re entitled to their opinion. It’s important to be transparent and up-front with customers, especially when it comes to generating attention for a cause. 

And that’s something to be proud of as a disability advocate. This isn’t to say The Hayden Diary is a perfect book, though.

Flaws as Authenticity: Imperfections With Purpose

Yes, you read that right.

Not everything in this book is perfect. There are some things about it that I’m not pleased with, such as some aspects of the book’s presentation.

The Hayden Diary challenges the conventional assumptions readers have about the ways books should look. 

For example, there are points in the book where:

• The pages go blank; 👔
• Words are misspelled, and; 👔
• The formatting is disorderly. 👔

But don’t get me wrong here. I’m not using my disability and the disinhibition caused by it to get away with shoddy craftsmanship.

Disinhibition: Adding Authenticity

There is an intentionality and meaning to all of this; these aren’t mistakes that I didn’t catch. They are real lapses in cognition and memory as part of my permanent brain damage.

I chose to keep such errors in the book rather than edit them out. In this way, not having The Hayden Diary professionally edited adds layers of authenticity to my disinhibition for a couple of reasons:

1. Diaries are usually written as one draft; they are what you’re feeling at a specific moment in time. You wouldn’t go and revise entries you kept in a childhood diary, for example. And so, editing would erase the actual teen spirit of my memoir.
2. An editor introduces a thought process that isn’t my own, even if they’re just offering suggestions. In that sense, professionally editing my book would bring order to what’s normally a chaotic side effect of TBI. Disinhibition is supposed to be a wild and unruly mental event. In the light of that, my book was 100% conceived and written by me. That way, my thoughts are genuine and truly demonstrate what it means to have disinhibition.

It’s not that I couldn’t hire an editor with the funds I had; my decision to go with one of the more expensive self-publishing platforms in spite of my budgetary limitations is proof of that.

I truly believe that my book’s youthful quality will be lost if touched.

My Book: A Reflection of Youthful Disinhibition

An important thing to keep in mind is that I was 17 years old turning 18 when I wrote this book. This was when my disinhibition was at its peak.

Accordingly, the lack of professional editing may also lead people to think that I put no effort into this book. Allow me to assure you: The Hayden Diary was by no means a cheap production. 

I didn’t just haphazardly put it together. I spent significant amounts of money (while sticking to my budget) to get it to (mostly) look the way I wanted it to. For instance:

• Its metadata was optimized by SEO specialists;
• Its cover was conceived by me and professionally designed by graphic artists, and;
• Its text has been formatted by experts to provide a consistent user experience across any and all devices.

In summary, I put a lot of thought into how my book would be perceived. I tried not to cut corners.

But the eBook conversion process fell woefully short of the exact experience I had intended for you. I hope you’ll look beyond these limitations, prioritizing story and impact.

Falling Short: A Strength

Ultimately, though, such imperfections only serve to bolster the main thrust of my book by demonstrating:

The line between disinhibition onset by TBI and personality is thin, and because of that, it leads people to think disinhibition and TBI aren’t serious. My book hopes to demonstrate TBI’s impact on patients—it’s often misunderstood—with the literary equivalent of a flashing neon sign.

The fact that I would publish and globally distribute my book as anything less than flawless across two distinct publishing networks stands as a monument to disinhibition.

In truth, I’m taking a huge professional risk in doing this—intentionally releasing a blemished eBook to demonstrate my core message. 👔

Reviewers of the book will probably see this risk as a negative.

This is a real image from my personal medical records that shows that I have significant frontotemporal brain damage. The grey parts are healthy brain tissue; the white represents scarred tissue . I had to specifically request and sign a release for this image, even though it’s from my own records. The reason why is because of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). It ensures protected health information remains private but as that law only applies to medical professionals who would be disclosing the info, it means that I am not beholden to the guidelines of the legislation. But I do stay within the spirit of it because it wouldn’t be ethical to share, for example, the actual names of the other patients in my book. So, I changed them and used fake names. What’s interesting is that you can make out a smiley face to the right.

Despite that, I feel this kind of radical action needs to be taken. Because broad TBI awareness won’t always come in a perfect, polished title; it comes in books like this one. 

It will come from books that are bold, unafraid, and genuine—books that address the surface, but go deeper. 

Let’s stay with superficial details for a minute.

The Hayden Diary: More Than (Intentional) Typos

While I’m on the subject of appearances, let’s face it: whenever a writer mentions there are typos in writing, it’s usually in reference to the occasional mistake, not intentional ones.

But non-fiction books have been published with blatant typos before. 

For instance:

In 1802, (self-proclaimed) Lord Timothy Dexter self-published a book lacking any punctuation and distributed it to readers for free. The book was titled A Pickle For The Knowing Ones; Or, Plain Truth In A Homespun Dress.

In the following editions of the book—there was demand for it—he added a single page consisting of 13 lines of just punctuation marks.

Just before that, he added a disclaimer:

“fouder mister printer the Nowing ones complane of my book the fust edition had no stops I put in A Nuf here and thay may peper and solt it as they plese” 

Basically, he invited readers to add punctuation however they wished, likening it to salt-and-peppering, since the first edition was devoid of it.

Now, provided that I started writing my book seven months after waking up from a coma induced by brain damage, you’d be right to question The Hayden Diary’s readability.

The typos in my book are kept as they were originally written. 👔 But that doesn’t mean they’re so glaring they disrupt the reading experience, like Lord Dexter’s work. 

In fact, comparing The Hayden Diary to A Pickle For The Knowing Ones may not do anything to help TBI awareness for the right reasons and may hurt it for all of the wrong reasons. Nevertheless, Lord Dexter’s willingness to break conventions—a disinhibited behavior—in the manner he did, aligns with my book’s disinhibition message perfectly. 

Be that what it is, there’s more to my book than intentional spelling errors. But it’s also more than a memoir, even though it’s categorized as one.

The Hayden Diary: More than a Memoir

At a superficial level, The Hayden Diary is just another TBI survivor’s memoir.

Much has been made of the book’s mission, who it’s for, how it will be marketed—blah, blah, blah. And while that’s important, you don’t know what The Hayden Diary is about. 

Generally, it’s about my TBI recovery, yes. But more specifically, it’s a slice of my life taken from one day of each of the five (conscious) months I spent at Crotched Mountain Rehabilitation Center.

The Hayden Diary takes place five days over five months because it’s a memoir, not an autobiography. Memoirs are supposed to be slices of life within a specific time period centered around a theme. There seems to be confusion on this point from writers and self-publishers.

Memoir and autobiography: what’s the difference?

Memoir vs. Autobiography: Similar But Different

Many conflate the genres of autobiography and memoir because they’re similar to each other.

Publishing industry thought leader, Jane Friedman, sees this confusion all of the time. She said as much in a piece she wrote on her blog called “Why Your Memoir Won’t Sell”:

“It happens the majority of the time I read a memoir chapter outline or synopsis: it begins in childhood and ends in the present day. In other words, it looks more like an autobiography.”

And because I have the constraint of a particular time period, there is so much nuance in those five days to show that I am a real-life person, not my medical condition.

In the story, I make it clear that I’m so much more than my disability: I’m a high schooler with friendships, romantic attractions, and a job. I also frequently cuss, have daydreams, make stupid decisions, and have an air of immaturity. I’m just like any other hot-blooded 17-year-old male. My disability doesn’t define me any more than it defines the book. My condition is a significant piece of who I am, but it’s not all of me. 

Even though The Hayden Diary is a memoir about my recovery from a TBI, there’s a whole narrative plot that’s threaded through the recovery journey.

The Hayden Diary: A Multifaceted Synopsis

With that established, the following is what The Hayden Diary is about in terms of plot. This is what would appear on the back of my book if it were sold in brick-and-mortar bookstores:

“Senior year of high school is often a transformational turning point between adolescence and young adulthood.

In an unfortunate turn of events, hapless high honors senior Jayme Severance finds an alternate way to spend the last year of high school: waking up from a coma at a rehab center after a near-fatal motor vehicle accident.

Set against a vintage 1960s refrigerator door, I used multicolored magnets to represent the way I communicated painstakingly, letter by letter, during my time at Crotched Mountain Rehabilitation Center. The arrangement of these magnets is intended to convey that disability isn’t a simple black-and-white matter; it exists along a spectrum of realities. The choice of a dirty, unkempt refrigerator door is significant because it contrasts with the pristine appearance most people maintain in their kitchens. By using a dirty fridge as a backdrop, I aim to illustrate that the world of disability is not neat and straightforward; it’s a complex and messy reality that many people may not fully understand. I also applied a creative approach to designing the cover of my book. Instead of placing the title in a standard horizontal orientation, I incorporated it into the image itself. This decision adds engagement and symbolism to the cover, even though it might come at the cost of readability. The fact that your mind has to adjust to the vertical orientation in order to read it is symbolic of the book’s tendency to subvert expectations. Overall, The Hayden Diary’s cover embodies the use of symbolism and creativity, challenging conventional norms in both communication and design, all centered around the theme of disability. 

Closing his eyes in 2006 and opening them again in 2007, Jayme must come to terms with traumatic changes to a body that isn’t his own. Torn from his family and friends, Jayme is forced to find community with strange hospital staff and stranger bedfellows.

But when he realizes he had a girlfriend before the crash, he steps up all efforts to recover enough to attend prom with his significant other by his side before the academic calendar ends—a mere five months away.

Conflict: it’s what makes a good fiction book. But The Hayden Diary is stranger than fiction—it’s non-fiction.“

As you can see, the description of the book revolves around my accident but it also implies there’s more to the narrative than the accident itself. 

There’s a whole plot separate from my recovery journey.

In Search of Plot: Memoirs

I imagine this is what Lisa Cooper Ellison (@lisaellisonspen) meant when she wrote, in a guest post on Jane Friedman’s blog, that memoirs need to demonstrate transformation in their plot:

“Every memoir has a narrative arc made up of interconnected events (plot) that result in the narrator’s internal transformation (character arc). In the beginning, the narrator believes one thing or operates a certain way. In the middle that way of being and believing is tested. Overcoming those struggles shift the narrator’s worldview and circumstances in a way that creates a satisfying ending.”

The Hayden Diary’s book description reinforces this notion. It also supports the idea that:

I am not what happened to me. I’m just punctuated by it in the same way a sentence without a period is an incomplete representation of a thought.

This article is just about done, with a few small exceptions.

The Value of Paid Content: the Endowment Effect

I did note the contradiction in telling you I’m not interested in profit but alluding to a price attached to my book at the same time. 

It may lead you to wonder: 

“If he’s not interested in profit, why isn’t it free?”

Ideally, it would be free. But I also I know that people tend to value what they pay for over the things they don’t. 

This tendency has a basis in psychology. It’s known as the endowment effect. That’s when you value something more because you own it.

In this case, I hope that you value what you discover in my book because you paid for that insight. By contrast, if my book were free, you might value your insights less.

Last Thoughts On Cost: So You Remember the Book

But just because non-fiction readers don’t care as much about price as their fiction reader counterparts doesn’t give me a license to charge a premium.

Using the endowment effect on top of that would be unethical and manipulative. And so, The Hayden Diary is appropriately priced for a novel-length non-fiction eBook memoir by a debut author. 

Again, please know I didn’t write this book to profit from my experience; I want to ensure that you’re able to: 

• Value what can be learned from it, and; 
• Boost TBI awareness with your share and/or purchase.

That’s all. 

The Hayden Diary: Also Written to Entertain

If I can boost TBI awareness while entertaining you with my story along the way, well, that’s just a bonus. 

So, what do you say? Will you help me out here?

Feel free to comment with your stories and experiences with TBI or disability in general.

How did the coin flip work out for you? Did it surprise you? How did it make you feel?

You may also tag pages, or anyone who may be interested in the comments. I’d be happy to talk to anybody in there, in private messages, or otherwise.

Thank you all so much! 

#tbiawareness #disabilityadvocate #healthcare #marketing #publishing #selfpublishing

Publishing Mishap: A Complication

EDIT: So it appears as if there’s been confusion on my part with my publisher’s retail partners.

Apparently, my book is listed for sale on Amazon as The Hayden Diary: Chasing The Prom From A Hospital Bed: Stranger Than Fiction—It’s Non-Fiction.

That extra part (Stranger Than Fiction—It’s Non-Fiction) was intended to be the subtitle. 

From my view, a book’s title includes everything, which is The Hayden Diary: Chasing The Prom From A Hospital Bed. That’s the title.

This means the subtitle is Stranger Than Fiction—It’s Non-Fiction. As such, it should be listed below the title, not as part of it.

In a call with my publisher about this, it turns out that how a book is categorized at a vendor is up to them. For example, the Barnes & Noble lists my book as I had intended.

The Amazon Kindle store, on the other hand, lists it as The Hayden Diary: Chasing the Prom From A Hospital Bed: Stranger Than Fiction—It’s Non-Fiction.

But it goes to show you that even though you may consider me “healed,” I still struggle with my disability. I’m easily confused.

I could rectify this, provided I get another ISBN number. But those cost a substantial amount of money. (Although you can technically get them for free, the free ones don’t work across platforms.)

The title error will remain as a reminder that just as I’m not perfect, my book isn’t either.

About the Author:

Born in the urban romps of New Hampshire’s biggest city—Manchester—Jayme discovered his talent for writing as he was recovering from a traumatic brain injury secondary to a motor vehicle accident on October 29th, 2006. 

When he was released from the nearly half-year stint in inpatient rehabilitation that followed the three-month-long coma induced by the accident, he set to work almost immediately at writing The Hayden Diary, believing that the stories of the rehab center that housed him needed to be told.

Still hindered by the effects of the accident, Severance originally began The Hayden Diary as a short story that expanded into what would be the first of the five parts that make up The Hayden Diary as it exists today. 

In consultation with the medical professionals of the rehabilitation establishment that once housed him, he wove in their input as he added more and more to The Hayden Diary. Completing the book in August 2008, it’s packed with brain injury observations, insights, and musings while his experience in inpatient rehabilitation was still fresh in his mind.

Going to college two years after the very incident that transformed his life, he went on to graduate from Colby-Sawyer College with a bachelor’s degree in creative writing, double minoring in English and sociology. 

Jayme now works as a junior copywriter at a marketing agency, doing his part to help businesses achieve their goals in the life sciences industry.

Gratitude and Ongoing Engagement:

Thanks again, and below is a list of relevant organizations and individuals that could/who could either benefit from my story, are connected to it in some way, or have a vested interest in it.

ABLE NH

Brain Injury Association of America

Brain Injury Association of New Hampshire

Colby-Sawyer College

Crotched Mountain Foundation

Dartmouth Health

David’s House, Inc.

Elliot Hospital

Easterseals

Easterseals NH

Granite State Independent Living (GSIL)

Granite United Way

Lash & Associates Publishing

Manchester Central High School

Mental Health Center of Greater Manchester

Monadnock United Way

New Hampshire Charitable Foundation

New Hampshire Public Radio

New Hampshire Union Leader

NPR

Special Olympics

Special Olympics New Hampshire

The Moore Center

Victoria’s Victory Foundation

WMUR-TV

Becca Taylor, CTRS/L

Bill Schick, EMBA

Donna Berghorn

Ewa Chrusciel

Jennifer Kamerman

Margaret Wiley

Megan Ruggiero

Melissa Roy

Nick Pascoal

Olivia Gaynor

Rin Conley

Ryan Nicholson

Sarah Graham

Super Julie Braun

Victoria Arlen

Victoria Hersey

Recommended reading:

1. Colby-Sawyer College: “Finding His Limits, Pushing Beyond.”
2. The Union Leader: “The big obstacle on his road back from brain injury: Getting hired.”
3. Colby-Sawyer College: Congratulations to Jayme Severance ’14 on his appointment as a public member of the N.H. Recreational Therapy Governing Board
4. The Mighty: When People Think My Invisible Disability Isn’t Real
5. The Mighty: When I Couldn’t Eat Solid Food After My Traumatic Brain Injury