raine turner from Canada writes: thank you so much for this series. I am the mother of a now young adult brain injury survivor and the devestation this took on my my son and myself is immeasurable. My son, my only child, was hurt as a 16 year old in a driving stunt. I am grateful for the boys with him they had the were-with-all to take him to emergency and not leave him on the pavement out of fear. After 10 days in intestive care the staff asked me to agree to place a 'do not resuicate' on him as he was having heart attacks, and still in coma and then to perhaps withdraw services. My son had his brain stem severed and I was advised he had less then a 1% chance to survive and to live an unassisted life. ' He will be in vegatative state for the remainder of his natural life which will most likely be 3 or 4 years' I was told. By the grace of something larger then myself- and of course the incredible medical staff and facilities at the Stollery Childrens' Hospital, my son did survive- walks-talks and gets into trouble! What a joy! How-ever - yes I was a single mom- self-employed and spent almost one year at the hospital then further time working with him- I almost lost my house, got into debt- drank too much to escape pain- had ' a mental health holiday' after my son was 'better' and lost a relationship. Very stressful indeed- I have worked with a couple of brain injury associations to try to improve awareness and I am so glad you are hosting this series. I never wish one more parent to have to sit beside a hospital bed with a comatose child and try to explain to them they need to fight for their life or to have to consider donating organs, or the funeral. Thank you globe and mail-- and Please try to get the message across!

• Posted 02/07/07 at 1:59 PM EDT | Link to Comment