Matt Brown

My name is Matt Brown and I’m 52 yrs old and have been disabled with TBI since 2018.

My story is unique in that many of my symptoms didn’t start showing up until my 40’s. I played football and baseball starting around 9 yrs old and played all through school and suffered numerous concussions during a time when concussions were not recognized as dangerous brain trauma. Couple that with a few car accidents, bike accidents, atv accidents and my concussion count was in the double digits.

After college I became a law enforcement officer and racked up a few more concussions which went unreported because it wasn’t considered a big deal. I then blew out my knee on the job as a police officer and was forced to retire before I was 30. I later became a fraud investigator for the financial intelligence unit of a bank. I spent 14 yrs doing this and after such a promising start and bright future I began struggling with simple things and making mistakes I never used to make.

I suffered another concussion in 2014 in a minor car accident and never recovered from it. I finally decided to seek medical help to see what was going on inside my brain that were causing all of these symptoms I never had as a child or as a young adult. After multiple drs and multiple tests I was told that I have damage to my brain from former trauma and I have more volume loss than I should at my age plus damage to my pituitary gland. I also had a neuropsych test which showed cognitive and executive deficits that I should not have based on my education and experience in high level fraud investigations for over 25 yrs.

My documentation was enough to be granted SSDI my first attempt. I had to give up my job, my marriage fell apart, my house was foreclosed and I could no longer safely live on my own. I lost many freedoms I used to enjoy. I now live with my parents and although I have a great team of drs and specialists as well as a good combo of medications to treat my symptoms, I still find myself struggling cognitively more and more each year. I get over stimulated very quickly which prevents me from being in public for a long duration. I am so happy to find the Brain Injury Association of America and of New York.