A Story of Perservering After Multiple Brain Injuries

Story of Persevering with Multiple Brain Injuries to Authorship

A serious brain injury in 1992 and four subsequent concussions left me with a brain that had great difficulty with reading, writing and other challenging symptoms. Eighteen years of early childhood teaching and training of others, using a drama/play for learning technique, I developed, inadvertently, provided for my brain development, healing and learning too. The dramatic play I was engaged in, apparently was just as essential for brain healing as it is for brain development in youth! Also, just like one of the messages in my newly published book, is that when we focus outside ourselves in service to others, we heal, grow and find our wholeness! At a certain point in my healing, my brain was able to write more consistently, including poetry- which took my cognition to a higher level. In 2011, I felt compelled to write a story combining fiction and reality to teach about the beauty of the tribe in Africa, I had stayed with since we had provided them with clean water, who had inspired me. I pondered it, for quite a while, on long walks and in the quiet home, I had created, for minimal sensory input for my brain function and healing. One day it poured out of me. It felt quite miraculous to me, remembering a time when Newsweek was read to me, after my initial brain injury. The story was laid out in prose to begin with but I decided to offer the powerful magic of rhyme to youth, just as it had helped me.
I had two concussions actually during the four year production process of creating my children’s book. In 2013, I sustained a serious concussion. This cut dramatically into the production process of the illustrations for the book. Then book’s completion was in serious question once again when last June 2014, I sustained my fifth concussion. I was nearing the finish line with Beaver’s Pond Press. We had some more re-working of text and the design phase, to lay out the text of the book to still complete. All work was halted for a time, including fundraising. I focused on healing, not pushing against the symptoms, listening to what my brain and body needed to heal. I had motivation too, since I have a son to love and a book I wanted to share, with messages that are bigger than me. I had an eight week recovery period. The book “Jelly Beans the Cheetah and Hope” was miraculously launched in early November 2014! It is about empathy, shared humanity- that we are the human family and that we are connected to all, including the endangered cheetah. It is also about perseverance!
The cheetah in the story represents the plight of anyone but a dear friend suggested to me, “you are the cheetah!” Upon deep reflection, I realized he was right. The cheetah represents me persevering with multiple brain injuries. In having served youth through, Jelly Beans Creative Learning, I inadvertently, experienced cognitive improvements, brain healing and discovered my wholeness. In not self- absorbing but giving, loving and helping others, this connection gave me a feeling of being complete. “Connection provides us with a sense of our wholeness.”  This is a line from the last page of “Jelly Beans the Cheetah and Hope.”
In the dedication of the book I included “To others with Brain Injury-may this book give you hope to persevere!” In the acknowledgment pages I wrote-“I want to share that I am grateful for every aspect of my life, both easy and difficult, since it provided me with strength and the introspective mind that led me to write. I truly believe that challenges are a tremendous gift if we choose to harness what can be learned from them. I believe that the heart that gave me the desire to write and share comes directly from all of that. I loved the opportunity the share the magic of rhyme for brain healing and development with others. It was a gift to get to share! It felt like a miracle too, since I struggled for many years with reading and writing following Brain Injuries.”
Sending Appreciation and GREAT JOY, HOPE and LOVE SissyMarySue
Wendy Muhlhauser-Author SissyMarySue      
SissyMarySue LLC

“Empowering youth with empathy to spring into compassionate action!”