Larry J. Malone Jr (Jauary 1, 1978)

I am a TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) Survivor. I was only 11 years old when I was struck down from the inside. I had just started the 6th grade at Scarbrough Middle School in Mobile, Alabama.I had been having worse than horrible migraines which were so bad and so painful until sometimes I'd pass out. I became forgetful and sometimes I'd be there but, I wouldn't be there. If you understand what I'm saying. The final straw came when my principal had to call my mom and tell her that I had passed out and no one knew what was wrong with me but, before I passed out I had been complaining that my head was hurting.

My mom called my godmother Valerie Finley who was also my neighbor. She came and picked her up from her job and the two of them came to my school and picked me up and took me straight to the Emergency Room. When I got to the ER I had regained consciousness but, my head felt like it was about to explode. They ran all kinds of tests on me. They even tapped my spine. Thankfully, there was a neurosurgeon in the room and he said for them to give me a brain scan. That's how they discovered what was ailing me. I had a Massive Subdural Hematoma on the left side of my brain.

The doctors went out into the waiting room and told my parents exactly what was wrong with me. I had a blood clot on my brain and it was about to burst. So I had to have immediate surgery. I don't know how long it took but, I remember getting some great sleep. lol

I had a total of 5 surgeries and I had 2 of the surgeries on my brain. The right side of my body was paralyzed for the first month that I was in the hospital. I was in there for a total of 3 months. They kept me under heavy sedation because of the type of surgeries that I had had. The blood clot that I had had removed also took something that I deemed more precious than gold to me. It took my speech. Well, it didn't actually take it. It actually remixed my speech. Because it slowed it down tremendously and it screwed and chopped it. Where I had been able to talk fluently and pronounce all of my words with acute pinpoint accuracy, I now could barely talk. For I had a stutter that was like no other. A few times I timed myself between words when I was trying to talk. On average it took me 3 and a half minutes between words when I was talking. I dealt with my stutter for over 12 years. I also lost all sight in one of my eyes. It took me 1 year and 3 months to get all the way back on my feet and learn to walk again.

But through it all, I didn't allow my struggle to overtake me and change me into a mean and bitter person. I could have but, I chose to walk the high road instead. I chose to walk in the light instead of walking in the darkness.

Today I can walk, talk, skip, hop, play video games, sing, see, hear, taste, read, along with a plethora of other things. This is my message to you: The storm will come but, it is how we manage while we're in our storms that often time decides the outcome. So smile. Smiles are free and they can lift your spirit and the spirits of those that are around you. I hope that me sharing my story helps someone.

PHYLLIS LINDA HYMAN (July 6, 1949 – June 30, 1995)

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