BIAC’s Walk for Thought Honors a Very Long Journey

(as seen in the September 30th issue of the Journal Inquirer newpaper)

Sage and Rob Cochran

It was 1982 when Sage Cochran — now a resident of Gales Ferry — experienced her first serious brain injury. Sound asleep in the back seat of a friend’s car, she was not only thrown through the rear window but some 60 feet down the road when the car hit a telephone pole.

Fracturing her skull and several bones, Sage required two-months of hospitalization and four surgeries — but while her fractures healed rather swiftly and equally well, her brain took its time, as did her emotional wounds. “As a single mother, wanting to care for my daughter motivated me to get better,” she says, looking back. And eventually she did.

Then, one day, just as Sage thought life was once again on an even track, the car she was driving was rear-ended by another car.

Recovering from a Second Brain Injury: Homeless — but Never Helpless

Sage’s second brain injury was less dramatic, but nonetheless serious. In fact, following this injury, she found her short-term memory problems so severe that she simply couldn’t handle college anymore, and additional cognitive difficulties prevented her from getting a job. In time, she and her daughter became homeless — but as Sage is quick to note, they never became helpless.

Needing to keep a roof over their heads, Sage pushed on and up, finding ways to overcome the cognitive issues standing in her way, and in 1996 she volunteered to serve as a support group facilitator for the Brain Injury Association of Connecticut (BIAC), a small organization which just happened to get its start in 1982 — the same year Sage had her first accident. It was a marriage made in heaven.

Enter the Brain Injury Association of Connecticut

Established by parents desperate to find the therapies and services their children needed to recover from their brain injuries, BIAC had only recently progressed from its location around the kitchen table of its founder to having office space of its own, some good programs, and the beginnings of a statewide support group that included such strong leaders as Sage Cochran.

Today, twelve years later, Sage is the Brain Injury Association of Connecticut’s Support Group Coordinator — which is no small task given the fact that BIAC now has a total of 26 support groups statewide, including three just for veterans. And today, twelve years later, the Brain Injury Association of Connecticut is proud to offer all of the programs and services capable of making it precisely what it was always meant to become — a resource in recovery and a partner in prevention.

It is a resource in recovery to all of the brain injury survivors, family members, and caregivers dealing with the challenges of living with a brain injury, thanks to a wide range of services aimed at connecting those in need to the resources they require. And it is a partner in prevention for Connecticut residents in every town of every age, thanks to a comprehensive series of educational programs aimed at increasing awareness about the realities of brain injury and its prevention.

But while her role at BIAC continues to be a marriage made in heaven, there is another marriage made in heaven that makes Sage’s smile just a little brighter. It took place on July 7th of last year, when Sage married Rob — a U.S. Navy veteran five years into his recovery from a brain tumor. “Rob is wonderful,” says Sage, when asked about her handsome young man. “He is very supportive … my best friend.” And Rob echoes those same sentiments, stressing the level of understanding and compassion they share. Following in Sage’s footsteps, Rob helps veterans like himself who are survivors of brain injury by co-facilitating a support group in the Mystic-Noank area, as well as another in Norwich exclusively for veterans.

Brain Injuries — and BIAC’s Walk for Thought — are about Rebirth

Recently, a necklace in the shape of a butterfly, which is BIAC’s logo, caught this writer’s attention. Engraved on the back were the words “The little caterpillar thought her life was over only to discover she had become a butterfly.” That certainly describes Sage. And it also describes every brain injury survivor who awakens from his or her brain injury to discover that while life might be very different, it can still be wonderful. The best evidence of that will seen on October 4, 2008, when the Brain Injury Association of Connecticut holds its annual Walk for Thought in East Hartford’s Great River Park.

There, you will see Mike Jennings, who was an aerospace engineer before his brain injury and who now lives in Simsbury and volunteers his time as both co-leader of a BIAC support group at Gaylord Rehabilitation Hospital in Wallingford and as a member of Simsbury’s Commission on Aging & Disability. And there, you will see West Hartford resident Amy Sills, who is not only a Director of the Renbrook School, assistant treasurer for the Larrabee Fund, and an Advisory Council member for Friends of the Family but a member of BIAC’s Board of Directors and Co-Chair of this year’s Walk for Thought.

There, you will see Jon Spencer, a 1978 graduate of the Kingswood-Oxford School in West Hartford, who was a freshman at UConn when he experienced his brain injury and who now lives and works part time in South Windsor — and takes great pride in leading a Walk for Thought team that raised more than $7,000 for last year’s event. And there, you will see Old Saybrook resident Gerry Wilson, who retired as Executive Director of a national non-profit organization following his brain injury only to become a valued member of BIAC’s Board of Directors in 2005.

There, you will see survivors, family members, caregivers, as well as BIAC staff and Board members from almost every town in Connecticut.

Organized by the Brain Injury Association of Connecticut in partnership with founding sponsor Ken Corneau, a resident of New Britain and CEO of United Steel in East Hartford, the Walk for Thought is one of only two fundraising events held by the BIAC each year. And although the 2008 Walk for Thought will only be the fourth ever held, it has already grown well beyond its origins as an important fundraising opportunity to become a day of hope and triumph for those struggling with a brain injury — and there are many, because brain injuries currently disable six times more individuals each year than breast cancer, spinal cord injuries, HIV/AIDS, and MS combined.

BIAC’s Programs and Services Now in Great Demand

According to Julie Peters, BIAC‘s Executive Director, “The services of the Brain Injury Association of Connecticut have never been in greater demand than they are today. In fact, we receive more than 500 calls to our HelpLine every month from brain injury survivors, family members, and caregivers in need of our assistance — and that represents a 700-percent increase in less than three years.”

Part of the reason for that increase is the number of veteran’s returning home from the Gulf who have suffered the kinds of concussive injuries commonly caused by explosive devices. But many survivors experience their brain injuries in car or sports accidents, trip-and-fall incidents, or as a result of strokes, brain tumors, or asphyxia due to a near-drowning or drug overdose, and the fact remains that while medicine can often prevent deaths due to acquired brain injuries, it can not restore the lives lost to them.

Explains Peters, “Life changes after a brain injury. Sometimes it changes in small ways, and sometimes the changes are profound, but each life changed must be rebuilt by the survivors themselves, with the support of their loved ones and professional help from the many rehabilitation specialists and programs out there. It is our job here at BIAC to make sure that brain injury survivors and their families connect with those rehabilitation specialists and programs.”

BIAC’s Programs and Services Continue to Meet that Demand Statewide

According to Paul Slager, a partner with the Stamford-based law firm of Silver, Golub & Teitell, LLP, and the newly elected president of BIAC’s Board of Directors, “BIAC is the only non-profit organization in Connecticut entirely dedicated to providing the support, direction, resources, advocacy, education, and fellowship brain injury survivors, their loved ones, and their caregivers need — and they do so entirely free of charge. As such, this fine organization is truly a lifeline for those just embarking on the road to recovery from a brain injury, as well as for those further along the way on what is always a difficult journey.” And Slager speaks from experience.

Now in his third year as a BIAC Director, Slager became a member of the BIAC Board after witnessing how life-changing acquired brain injuries are through his law practice, where Slager maintains a strong focus on representing those who have experienced catastrophic events resulting in such debilitating permanent disabilities as acquired brain injury. “My work with the Brain Injury Association of Connecticut is really the natural extension of my special interest and experience in working with children and adults who have suffered brain injuries during childbirth or as a result of other trauma,” explains Slager. “It provides me with a chance to help brain injury survivors with the day-to-day challenges they will face long after any legal remedy has been achieved.”

Slager goes on to point out that while BIAC is headquartered in East Hartford, the organization’s reach is far more expansive, with 25 BIAC support groups statewide, including two in Fairfield Country — the Stratford and Norwalk support groups, as well as several more nearby in New Haven, Wallingford, and Cheshire. Says Slager, “We want to be sure that those with brain injuries and their loved ones who live in the southern part of the Connecticut know about BIAC and all we offer.”

Twenty-Six Years Later — An Invitation to Celebrate

It’s been 26 years since BIAC Support Group Coordinator Sage Cochran experienced her first brain injury — and 26 years since a group of weary parents held the first meeting of the Brain Injury Association of Connecticut around that small kitchen table. Please help BIAC to celebrate all the progress made, all the progress to come, and all the personal victories already won over brain injury by those who live its struggle every day by becoming a 2008 Walk for Thought supporter.

<< Go Back