‘I wish I had a cast on my head’ says teen living with brain injury

Regina – When you meet Emilia Becker you can’t tell she has a brain injury, though sometimes she wouldn’t mind if you could.

“I wish I had a cast on my head or I wish I had a scar from my injury because then they might understand and be more patient,” she said.

Emilia was only 11-years-old when the bus she was riding home from school collided with a truck.

From that moment onward, life changed and with the help of family, Emilia had to relearn how to do things like walk and read.

She also suffered memory loss and now at the age of 19, continues to struggle with her injury every day.

“You have to re-network your brain to understand things or come up with different ways to practice things.”

Glenda James, the executive director of the Saskatchewan Brain Injury Association, told Global News that recovering from a brain injury can often be isolating and requires a lot of support from family and friends.

“One of the most exciting developments is that with good services and supports you may be able to recover,” she adds. “But not everyone can so they have to develop a new life, a different life.”

Dr. Dennis Alfano, a professor of psychology at the University of Regina, said that it doesn’t take much trauma to cause a brain injury.

“In everyday life, falling from a standing height and hitting your head on the ground puts sufficient force on your head to cause a concussion or brain injury.”

Roughly half of the brain injuries in Saskatchewan are caused from some form of vehicle accident.

June is Brain Injury Awareness Month and this year the focus is on how “You can’t see a brain injury.”