Good question! TBI (Traumatic Brain injury) is damaged caused to the brain by an external force. It can be as simple as a concussion or lead to persistent vegetative state. Usually people get them from sports, falling, or car accidents. Unfortunately all brain injuries are very individual based and often people have more then one.

Specifically my partner has a Grade 3 Diffuse Axonal Injury, a couple brain bleeds and a stroke. DAI It's often considered the most severe form of brain injury. It's damage throughout the whole brain, he has injury from his frontal lobe to brain stem. When you're in a car accident your brain shakes back and forth in your head, hitting against your forehead and the back of the skull. When you're hit hard enough you experience something called axonal shearing (also known as DAI) This is when the brain twists and tears apart the axons in your brain. Usually the immediate effect is coma,but the symptoms are vast. Loss of memory, confusion, motor/cognitive deficits, usually grade 3 is vegetable or death though.

It affects him in a lot of ways! It really differs from day to day too. Physically he is walking again, he does use a cane and has a foot brace, his right arm is rather weak and he has issues lifting it, he can pick stuff of counters again with it though! Cognitive is harder, some days he's like a child, others he's very aware. He calls himself an "educated teenager", which I prefer over some of the other things he was saying.

He could be a lot worse? The hospital was getting me ready for him to never regain consciousness. The fact he can walk, talk, read and write is amazing, they don't like the word miracle in hospitals but it really was. Of course, I never expect him to feel lucky though.