A Run To Remember

From the start of the cross Canada I have constantly had my faith in humanity grow again.

I guess I should go back to the beginning. What the "hell" happened to me?

The story of my accident and the incidense leading up to it are a combination of information from my medical reports, my family, and some of the notes I started keeping.

I was working in a call center for a major canadian bank. I was sitting at work and I was feeling really dizzy and I got a wave of vertigo. I went to the bathroom. I was found by a co worker on the floor. I had apparently thrown up and passed out. I went home.

I took several days off from work. My friends and Mandy started to notice my mood had changed. I was acting very erratic, very emotional, and I would get very angry and then I would just withdraw and not talk to anyone.

I contacted work about coming back. They informed me I would need to get medical clearance to get back to work. This elongated my time off work. I went from what is called "short term disability" to "long term disability". This meant I would longer get bi weekly checks. I would get a monthly check. My first check took over two months be deposited.

During this time I was complaining of constant pain that moved places in my body. My moods changed rapidly and I become very irratict. I died my hair, I got into a physical fight and I started to avoid my friends and family.

I was falling behind in rent and I could not pay my bills. I was fighting the insurance company for my disability funds and I was in a bad mood. I was not sleeping and had been up for a couple of days. At least 50 hours of not sleeping. I was watching Judge Judy on TV.

My last memory. It is so vivid. I am watching Judge Judy, My TV makes a pop and then slowly goes dim. My TV has died.

In my current state of fighting with insurance, being behind in rent, sleep deprived and with abnormal mood swings. I loose it.

I call Mandy. Mandy calms me down and suggest's I have a bath. This will be the last memory of the "Old Me" I have.

What happens next open for debate. What we do know for sure is that Mandy had decided to come over to my place on her way home from work to cheer me up.

As we were seeing each other she had keys and tried to get into my sweet. However the inside lock was still attached. She could only open the door a small bit. Enough to see the blood, and here me making gurgling noises.

She called 911 and my friend Perry. The ambulance was there in seconds. They bashed open the door and I was having a full blown seizure.

I was expedited to the hospital. Mandy and I my friend were taken in for questioning by the police. While I was fighting for my life.

As Mandy and I were not married she had no legal say over my medical care. My parents were called for that. They were informed that the hospital I was in was not able to do the surgery I would need. This is a surgery that would involve removing a portion of my skull to take the pressure off my swollen brain.

Upon the removal of my skull and the first exposure to my brain the Surgeon was able to see that there was some dried blood in my brain. This mean that my brain had been bleeding for at least several months. It explained my behavior changes.

We still don't know what caused the initial bleeding. Call it a mini stroke, a hemorrhagic, or an annuerism. It doesn't really matter. I would never be the same again.

I was now a person with a disability. Over the next five years I would go through periods of life changing depression. I would be diagnosed with a serious anxiety disorder. I would face failure, after failure. I would loose family, friends, jobs, myself.

I would also find my new self. I would morn the loss of the old me and learn to embrace the "new me".

Facing so many challenges and failures during my recovery I was able to hold on to one thing. I could run.

The running started while living back in my parents condo. Despite all the constant failures, the frustration of dealing with insurance companies, falling through the cracks of the system, I felt like I was disappearing.

Running was the one things I could always do. I could run when angry, when tired. I could run without any ones help. I could run forever.

I finished my first Marathon in Chicago. I ran with my Sister. I was now a Marathoner!!

My First Marathon.

On the flight home from the Marathon I started to wonder what else I could do. I mean I just ran a marathon.

I set my sites on my first Triathlon. In Vancouver in 2007

 Finishing the Olympic Distance Triathlon.

During this time of increasing my physical performances. I started to think bigger.

How about an Ironman?

I am Ironman 

I finished the Penticton Ironman in 2009. I had a blog of the training here.  http://davidsjourneytoironman.blogspot.com/ 

Finishing the Ironman was an amazing experience. It was around this time that I was getting used to the "new me". 

Something that I talked about at some of the Brain Injury Association presentations along the run. Getting passed the morning of the old me and accepting the "new me". I started to reach out to brain injury associations. I started to get very frustrated with the lack of services for people with brain injuries.  

I started to write letters, I started to reach out to my local governments, I tried to fight with Social Service. 

It was around this time I saw a film about someone that had run across Canada. I could do this I thought. 

I reached out to various brain injury associations and got in touch with Braintrust Canada. We started to plan the Run To Remember. 

I was also training for my biggest challenge to date. The Goofy Challenge in Disney World. A half marathon on Saturday followed by a full marathon on Sunday. 

I was very confident in my ability to run. I started training for the Run To Remember. 

The next thing I new I was in St Johns Newfoundland and starting the Cross Canada Marathon a day on April 1st 2011. The following is pictures of one of the best experiences of my life.

It has been almost a month since the run finished. It has been a little strange getting adjusted to a new routine. I have been hitting the gym almost every day and continuing with the running.

I am also in a new "long run" of looking for a job. I will be doing some speaking at brain injury associations and continue with my talking about the world of brain injury, prevention, and being an advocate for survivors.

It's an interesting world we live in. I am very proud of what we accomplished in the run. I wanted to get people talking about brain injury, the staggering amount of head injuries, the cost, and the lack of services. As well as show people that live still does go on. That we can all be amazing. We can all achieve great things.

Next will be trying to change the system. That will be a much larger task. However my confidence is raised. I mean I just ran across the country!!