When the Lights Go Out: A Boy Given a Second Chance

In October 2003, I became a victim of traumatic brain injury. That's when I was hit and dragged by a pickup truck while riding a Big Wheel trike at a friend's party. Emergency brain surgery saved my life, but I lost a portion of the back part of my brain. At the age of ten, I had to learn how to breathe, swallow, talk, eat, stand, sit, walk-everything- all over again.

Traumatic brain injury is one of the leading causes of disability among children, yet, because of the complexity of the brai...