320,000 Lost in the Fog . . . Permanently.

***I originally wrote and posted this article on my family blog back in October 2008. Feeling rather Patriotic today and thinking of my U.S. Marine Corps brother who may be heading overseas within the next year or two (he's currently guarding those WMDs in Washington State), I wanted to re-post this article here. I do not know what is the current count of TBI in Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, but I imagine it has only grown significantly higher in the past eight months. Thank you for reading.***


One thing that I do not like about pregnancy is the absentmindedness. I can tell that my brain isn't fully functional all the time--I forget things, space out occasionally, and experience lots of mood swings. I hate it. However, the absentmindedness really is mild, and within approximately nine months postpartum, my brain should be running on all cylinders again. This knowledge gives me hope, and allows me to look past those unlikable symptoms and more or less enjoy being pregnant.

How would it be for me, though, if the absentmindedness was moderate to severe and there was no hope that proper brain function would ever return in this life? How would I feel about having thought processes that once used to be so simple, now be too confusing--that even holding a normal conversation is too much? ...To know that I, a college graduate with plans to obtain an advanced degree once the kids are grown, can suddenly not even be able to hold down a job at McDonalds--or worse yet, realize that I truly am unable to care for my children without serious help?

I am not talking about Alzheimer's disease here. I am talking about traumatic brain injury (TBI)--a permanent malady that currently affects around 320,000 of our Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans. Did you catch that number--three hundred and twenty thousand. People.

These are real people, most of whom are under 35 years old. People with families. With kids. With husbands or wives. With parents, brothers, and sisters. Young men and women who had dreams of family, careers, education all wiped out for them by TBI. Three hundred and twenty thousand real people, and many more who have yet to be diagnosed.

I read a story in the newspaper spotlighting one man out of the 320,000, and my heart lamented. Perhaps it is my own frustration over absentmindedness that fills me with so much compassion for him and the many others. Perhaps it's my fear that the same could happen to my own brother or sister. Perhaps it is because when you add this number to the numbers of vets who come home with PTSD, an amputated limb, other mental and physical impairments, or even dead--the total number reaches beyond my comprehension. I hate to think of how much that number will grow before the war is over. It hurts to think about it, doesn't it?

The least we could do is show them a little support.

*If you'd like an easy way to show support for our troops stationed overseas, click here.

(originally posted by Becca on "The Cox Chronicles" on 10/6/08)