{"id":1079,"date":"2021-06-13T16:50:40","date_gmt":"2021-06-14T08:50:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mocrazystrong.org\/being-a-caregiver-for-a-brain-injury-survivor\/"},"modified":"2021-06-17T11:50:51","modified_gmt":"2021-06-17T11:50:51","slug":"being-a-caregiver-for-a-brain-injury-survivor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mocrazystrong.org\/being-a-caregiver-for-a-brain-injury-survivor\/","title":{"rendered":"Being a caregiver for a brain injury survivor"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As you might or might not know, when I did the interview with Donna I was on a cruise to Mexico!<\/p>\n<p>The cruise was given to my dad for his 70th birthday by all of his daughters as a thank you for being our dad.<\/p>\n<p>After the cruise, we had a busy time in LA: visiting colleges for my sister who will be a senior in high school, two birthdays ( my two little sisters ) Lots of fun adventures, and getting a cold.<\/p>\n<p>Now I&#8217;m back home, ( my baby picked me up from the airport again with roses, this time pink! Last trip red! ) and I had the time to write up a blog about my interview with Donna!<\/p>\n<p><strong>Donna O&#8217;Donnell Figurski<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mocrazystrong.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/74_file.png\" \/><\/p>\n<p><em> Donna O&#8217;Donnell Figurski<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Talk show host on the Brain Injury Radio Network.<\/li>\n<li>Blogger on brain injuries: https:\/\/survivingtraumaticbraininjury.com<\/li>\n<li>New author of the book: Prisoners without bars (November 1st, 2018) pre-order at Amazon or Barnes and Noble.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Our talk:<a href=\"www.blogtalkradio.com\/braininjuryradio\/2018\/05\/28\/life-gets-mocrazy-donna-odonnell-figurski-author-of-prisoners-without-bars\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> http:\/\/www.blogtalkradio.com\/braininjuryradio\/2018\/05\/28\/life-gets-mocrazy-donna-odonnell-figurski-author-of-prisoners-without-bars<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Became a caregiver for a brain injury survivor in 2005<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mocrazystrong.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/75_file.png\" \/><\/p>\n<p><em>Donna and her husband David <\/em><\/p>\n<p>Donna&#8217;s husband David came into their room bleeding out of the eyes and fell into a coma from a brain injury. David was reduced to an infantile state and Donna became his caregiver.<\/p>\n<p>David had 2-weeks in the hospital and rehab for 3-months. A year later he was able to return to teaching at Columbia University, however, he was not fully back. David continued to have:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>No balance<\/li>\n<li>Swallow issues<\/li>\n<li>Blatter control issues<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>And 13 years later David still cannot go outside by himself. His caregiver, the Donna, has had an active role for 13-years!<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Prisoner without bars- David<\/p>\n<p>Prisoners without bars -This shows both Donna and David were prisoners<\/p>\n<p><strong>Advice for caregivers:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mocrazystrong.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/76_file.png\" \/><\/p>\n<p><em> Me, and one of my caregivers, my sister Jeanee, less than a year after my coma<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Always keep it light. Find laughter in every situation as they develop.<\/li>\n<li>Keep yourself so busy you never have time to stop and think woe is me.<\/li>\n<li>Write. Donna started writing as a cathartic method to help her record the incidents.<\/li>\n<li>Be kind to the nurses because you want everyone on your team.<\/li>\n<li>You know the person with the brain injury better than anyone else, so let your voice be heard even if you disagree with medical professional.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mocrazystrong.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/77_file.png\" \/><\/p>\n<p><em>My mom, my caregiver, hugging me in the hospital<\/em><\/p>\n<p>You might be an active caregiver for a few months, take care of your daughter for a few years, but then she might be healed, living in her own apartment attending college. ( my story ) Or you might be a caregiver for 13-years with many more years in store. For however long you are a caregiver you are the person who is advocating how the brain injury survivor is taken care of. You are essential.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Thank you to all the caregivers from all the brain injury survivors like me. We need you<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mocrazystrong.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/20_file.png\" \/><\/p>\n<p><em> Jamie &#8220;MoCrazy&#8221; Crane-Mauzy<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Talk Show Host- Life Gets MoCrazy on the Brain Injury Radio Network<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Full-time student at Westminster College, SLC, Utah<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Motivational Public Speaker<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As you might, or might not know, whan I did the interview with Donna I was on a cruise to mexico!  The cruise was given to my dad for his&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Being a caregiver for a brain injury survivor | Support &amp; Stories<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Listen to Jamie MoCrazy&#039;s interview with Donna, a brain injury caregiver. 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