Abby Jarman here. I'm fundraising for SameYou and I'm hoping to raise $200 to support brain injury recovery now and in the future. But I need your help to get there! Fundraising for SameYou is important to me because I have a brain injury (acquired Chiari) that caused me to become seriously ill in 2013.1 in 3 people will have an Acquired Brain Injury at some point in their lives but this is hardly ever talked about and survivors often face stigma. SameYou wants to change this. They are working to break the silence around brain injury and help give people the best possible chance of recovery after leaving hospital. Any donation would help and would be really appreciated. If you are interested in learning more, go to: https://www.sameyou.org

My neurological symptoms onset when I was 17. What I thought was exhaustion from stress and school was actually my body telling me something was very wrong. First my autonomic nervous system malfunctioned (all the things your brain tells your body to do automatically) and then the physical symptoms started:  tremors, parasthesia (numbness), overwhelming fatigue that wasn't helped by sleep, severe brain fog that impacted--among other things--my ability to read and retain information, inability to walk or remain upright due to my brain's failure to properly regulate my heart... and so on.The symptoms have worsened over time. I have essentially lost the last 7 years of my life to illness. My mom has too. While surgery will not fix all of my complex medical issues, the hope is that I can regain enough function that I can begin rehabilitation to address the deficits that have been acquired over years of neurological damage. 

This is why SameYou's mission means so much to me personally. They are innovating nursing education and rehabilitation to make it more accessible to people like me. But more importantly, SameYou wants to make this care available for ALL patients, especially those who don't have the kind of opportunity and access that I have. Everyone deserves a chance at full recovery--not just the privileged few. 

I wanted to use the time I am in New York for surgery and in my post-op recovery period to reach out to my friends and family and ask them to donate to SameYou and/or raise awareness that there are others like me, out there in the world, who lack the kind of familial, institutional and societal support that they need. SameYou offers these patients a fighting chance. 

This work is especially important in the times of COVID. When so much of our world's medical resources are rightfully consumed by the pandemic, it is easy to forget that there are patients that require life-changing support and can't access it. SameYou's support of innovative remote rehabilitation efforts can make a difference. Thank you in advance for supporting me. I couldn't do it without kindness of people like you. 

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Hey everyone! In September, we started a blog to continue the work of raising awareness and decreasing the shame and stigma around brain injury. On Headstrong, we talk more about my mom and I’s story, discuss my rehabilitation process, and interview other brain injury survivors, caregivers, and professionals. 

Our goal is to provide a space for those of us who have gone through these experiences to share their stories and feel seen, and to give everyone else a chance to read these stories to foster empathy and understanding.

We want to open eyes to the often invisible needs of survivors and their caregivers, in the hopes that we can encourage even one person to show up for those affected by brain injury (and other neurological conditions) in their own life.  

You can check it out at https://www.headstrongstories.com, and follow us on IG at https://instagram.com/headstrong.stories