Dawn, recovering from a Traumatic Brain Injury.

Hi, my name is Lynette Brannan and I am starting this fundraiser for my cousin Dawn. She is an amazing person and needs help as she cannot work due to complications from a traumatic brain injury. Please share this and help if you can!

Here is her story:

Hello all! I am a single mom of three children. I hurt myself last spring (full details below) and after 7 years of working my way up the chain of government work, I lost my job in February 2023. I’m asking for help to not lose only three things - our home, car and therapy for the next 6 months. They estimate I’ll be better in no more than 8 months, but I’m an extremely motivated positive person who has a goal to be better and back to work in 6 months. Every day is different. Some days I am functioning at 80% and some days I cannot drive or get off the couch due to the pain and dizziness. Unfortunately, it seems to be unpredictable.

The details - In April 2022 I sustained what I thought was just a compounding concussion while helping someone move. My doctor of 6 years, unfortunately, misdiagnosed me and I wasn’t aware my situation wasn’t normal.

Just before July 2022 I went back to work and attempted to struggle through it. I scheduled an appointment with a concussion specialist/neurologist at Rush in Chicago, but they couldn’t see me until October 2022. In October, I was diagnosed with a mild traumatic brain injury. I was sent to see a neuropsychologist and physical therapist who specializes in vestibular therapy. They weren’t sure exactly what was wrong and why I wasn’t healing. In December I was forced to go back on FMLA (intermittent) to attempt to save my job.

In January the physical therapist told me he could only work with me through the end of the month as it was clear I needed more that he was able to help with. Just over halfway through January, my health took a huge setback. The neuropsychologist then sent me to a highly specialized eye doctor. Unfortunately, the day before I was scheduled to see the third specialist, I lost my job. After almost 4 hours of testing with the special eye doctor, I was given an additional 2 diagnoses (Convergence Insufficiency and Binocular Vision Disorder) and a renewed hope for healing. They are predicting based on my symptoms that I should be better in no more than 8 months if I am able to afford the therapy consistently. They put me on work restriction which prevents me from doing jobs with computer work, reading, or moving from side to side. I also know from experience, trying to volunteer at my kids’ school, and from my struggles at work, I am unable to do basic math and my short-term memory is largely struggling. Fortunately, this will all heal in time as long as I can keep going to therapy. Thank you for reading this and considering helping my family to navigate through this difficult time.

Updates since the above go fund me (some of these are avoidable but I’m listing them to show how my life is affected.. and this probably isn’t an exhaustive list) I just typed my thoughts.. you’re much better with words. Write whatever you think from this in whatever words you want

-I stopped being able to afford therapy

-Not healing as fast as I hoped. I definitely didn’t realize this would alter my life so much and for so long.

-While I did receive unemployment, it ended Mid-Sept and it wasn’t enough to pay all the bills, and it wasn’t long enough to cover our needs

-Current symptoms depending on day

-Limited on ability to read

-Limited on ability to work on computer or be on phone/watch TV

-Limited on ability to exercise (dizzy, brain overwhelmed to the point of needing to lay down for a long time with eyes closed)

-Certain activities create large set backs (ie cleaning the house, traveling to take tyler to college, job interviews, cutting the grass) where I need 1-3 days to recover (this means my brain feels like it’s the middle of the night when I try wake up in the morning and it’s extremely hard to open my eyes and get up and function like I haven’t slept at all even after a full nights sleep, sometimes eye pain even with the slightest amount of dim light coming in my room from a street light)

-Driving with glasses on (vs contacts) makes me too dizzy to safely drive

-Sometimes Night driving where the other cars headlights (even dim) are too overwhelming for my brain and I have to drive with my hand up to block the lights or move my mirrors so I cannot see any headlights behind me in my mirrors

-Cognitive function (Math/Memory) is suffering the most probably. I struggle with remembering names, recent events, tasks every day. Basic math calculations are very difficult or not possible depending on the day

-Stress is the biggest setback for my brain. Any amount of stress and negativity makes my symptoms drastically increase

-Looking at someone who is speaking to me from any angle other than straight on. Turning my head to look at someone during a conversation is too hard on my eyes/brain after about 30 seconds.

-Social functions where I need to multitask and focus on a lot of chaos/conversations at once is overwhelming after a while and my brain panics and I need to step into another room and close my eyes in silence or leave. (Loud music/noise in a closed space is only tolerable for short times or not at all depending on the day)

-Loud ringing in my ears at the end of the day is most noticeable and very frustrating

I did request to close out my retirement accounts to hold me over until I can get a new job and fix the biggest safety issues in my home, but they are short staffed and have predicted I will not get the money for a couple months.

I’m concerned I won’t be able to fix my furnace before winter weather hits again.

In 2022 a roofing company replaced my roof and sealed over the vent to my furnace and water heater. This made my furnace fill up with water and destroyed it. They did not respond to fix the issue even after reporting the issue to the Illinois attorney general (who sent me a letter stating the company should be reaching out for a settlement). Last winter I used space heaters to keep warm as I tried to get the company to fix the issue they created. Other items that have broken since my brain injury and loss of income

-Front/back door

-One of our toilets

-Ceiling lights/switches (we use lamps/alternate lights in 4 rooms)

-Part of my fence

-Part of my siding (this was my fault)

-Garage door

-Car repairs needed

-Second AC (only cools back room of house)

-Backroom furnace works sometimes

Things that needed repair right before the injury that I was saving up for before the job loss

-Main AC/wiring to AC

-Backroom furnace only worked sometimes

Thank you if you've read this far! I, Lynette, appreciate any help you can be to my cousin!! She is a wonderful person and is keeping positive despite all her struggles.