My Child My Child My Child HHHas aas aas a Brain Injury

44 Pages·2006·0.86 MB·English

by  Bob Cluett

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What do I do now?
Written By: Edited By:
Frank Toral Marilyn Lash
For more information on how you can help your child,
please visit wwwwwwwwwwwwwww.....mmmmmyyyyyccccchhhhhiiiiillllldddddhhhhhaaaaasssssaaaaabbbbbrrrrraaaaaiiiiinnnnniiiiinnnnnjjjjjuuuuurrrrryyyyy.....cccccooooommmmm
For additional information or copies of this booklet, please contact:
Frank Toral at Toral Professional Building
4780 Davie Road, Suite 101, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33314
Email: [email protected]
Toll Free: 1-866-747-7848
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copyrighted by Frank Toral, 2006
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Message of Hope and Encouragement......................................1
Foreword..........................................................................2
About the Author & Editor...................................................3
Introduction......................................................................5
Step 1 Understand What Has Happened to Your Child................7
Step 2 Create Your Blanket of Support..................................15
Step 3 Consider How Your Child's Treatment Will Be Funded....19
Step 4 Hire a Competent Legal Team....................................21
Step 5 Become an Advocate for Your Child...........................27
Step 6 Take Care of Yourself..............................................28
Step 7 Seek Out Available Resources.....................................29
Step 8 The Next Step.........................................................35
Step 9 Know the Bill of Rights for Parents...............................36
Step 10 Organize Your Thoughts..........................................37
More information on Brain Injury in Children..........................39
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This book is dedicated to all the
parents, families and friends of chil-
dren who have sustained a Traumatic
Brain Injury (TBI). I have endeav-
ored to provide what I trust will be
useful information and resources that
will help you, and your child or friend
on their journey of recovery. I want
to encourage you by sharing with you
that hope and faith can make a differ-
ence; there Can Be a better tomorrow.
Please allow me to thank those who
assisted me in the preparation of this
book. First, I would like to thank Tracy
East, who following her son's brain injury, shared her vision with me of
bringing hope and encouragement to all parents, families, and friends
of children with Traumatic Brain Injury, through her pioneering orga-
nization which she founded, Mother's Against Brain Injury, Inc. Thank
you to Valerie Breen (Executive Director, Brain Injury Association of
Florida, Inc.), for her passion in providing resources and statewide
support to survivors of brain injury and their families.
I would also like to thank Betty Paleolog-Torres and Alex Garcia
in my law firm without whom this book would not have been pos-
sible. Finally, thanks to Marilyn Lash, whose editing and caring words
continue to inspire and bring hope to families just like you all over the
United States.
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By Tracy East
President/Founder
Mothers Against Brain Injury, Inc.
Let me begin by promising that you
will get through this and that you are
NOT ALONE. I know first hand what you may be feeling right now
- frightened, confused, and helpless. Just like you, I received the
phone call every parent fears. My 16 year old son, Justin, was in-
volved in a serious car accident in 2004. When I arrived at the
hospital, he was in a coma with a serious traumatic brain injury (TBI)
and a fractured vertebra. It is hard to see your child hurt so badly. I
was unable to call upon my natural instinct to "fix" the problem. It
left me in a fog of uncertainty and desperation. So I know what you
are going through right now.
Please take comfort in the fact that many children have come
through this process and gone on to remarkable recoveries. Though it
is hard to see right now, soon the fog will lift. Things can and will get
better, but it takes time. The brain is an extremely complicated organ
and it is an amazing part of our bodies. It has its own way of healing,
but again, it does this in its own time. Sometimes it takes days, some-
times weeks and sometimes even longer before we see progress and
change.
Have faith in the power of love and hope. Pray for patience and
it will come. Know that there are many people who understand and
are willing and able to help you through this difficult time. We will
all be by your side, if not in person, then in thought and prayer.
God bless you.
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By Marilyn Lash
When a child has a brain injury,
everyone in the family is affected in
some way. Parents, siblings, grand-
parents, aunts, uncles and cousins -
they will worry, have questions, and
try to help you through this difficult
time. The amount of information that
you are hearing as you talk with doc-
tors, nurses, specialists and therapists
can feel overwhelming. You have en-
tered the world of Brain Injury and it
is filled with unfamiliar medical terms,
treatment procedures and specialists.
The future may look very uncertain as you try to make sense of
what it means when a child - your child - has a brain injury. You may
be asking, "What do I do now?"
This booklet brings together a lot of information that will help
you…
(cid:22) understand your child's condition
(cid:22) become familiar with stages of care and treatment
(cid:22) identify legal and financial resources for your child's care
(cid:22) find support and assistance from family and friends and
(cid:22) learn about services in the community.
During your child's first days or weeks of care in a Trauma Cen-
ter, the last thing you may want to think about are insurance, finances
and legal issues. This booklet explains why it is important to learn
about them in the beginning of your child's care. This is just the
beginning of the long road home.
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Frank Toral resides in Cooper City,
Florida with his loving wife, Olivia,
their beautiful daughter, Nina and the
family boxer, Mia. The Toral family is
very active in their hometown community and church.
Mr. Toral is the Managing Partner of the Law Offices of Toral &
Associates, a statewide law firm concentrating in traumatic brain
injury and spinal cord injury cases. He has successfully represented
many families whose children have suffered a brain injury.
Mr. Toral’s commitment to survivors of brain injury extends be-
yond the law. He is the current President-Elect of Brain Injury Asso-
ciation of Florida, Inc. and a Board member of Mothers Against
Brain Injury, Inc. as well as the University of Miami/Jackson Memo-
rial Hospital Pediatric Neurotrauma Advisory Board. Mr. Toral is a
guest lecturer on topics related to pediatrics and neurotrauma. He is
a proud sponsor of many charitable causes, but is particularly proud
of his sponsorship of Mothers Against Brain Injury, Inc. and the Brain
Injury Association of Florida, Inc.
As a lawyer having represented many children, teens and adults,
who survived a Traumatic Brain Injury, I have seen the despair in
parents' eyes and hopelessness on their faces while they anxiously
wonder if their loved one is going to get through this. One thing that
has given many of my clients hope is faith.
Through faith in God, I have seen hope restored, lives trans-
formed, recovery succeed and people of all ages go on to live mean-
ingful lives following a Traumatic Brain Injury. It is my personal
belief that faith in God plays more than just a passing role in helping
you, the parent, through this difficult time and ultimately helping
your child get better. As you sit in the hospital room and wait for
your child to get better under the care of caring medical professionals
and the caring and guidance of your blanket of support, getting God
involved in the process may significantly influence the outcome.
But those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall
mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall
walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:31
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Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own under-
standing;
In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.
Proverbs 3:5-6
While you may feel that your present situation is out of your
control, it is not out of God's control.
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Marilyn Lash has personal experience with what families face when
a child has a brain injury. She can still recall the events many years
ago that followed her brother's brain injury as her parents searched
for proper treatment, depleted their savings, advocated for educa-
tional programs, and looked for services.
Over the years, she saw her parents' experience repeated many times
by other families during her career as a social worker in rehabilitation
programs at Massachusetts General Hospital and Braintree Hospital in
Boston. This led to her interest in developing community programs that
would be more responsive to the needs of persons with brain injuries and
their families. In her work at the Research and Training Center in
Childhood Trauma at Tufts-New England Medical Center in Bos-
ton, she became an expert on the impact of traumatic brain inju-
ries on families and the special educational needs of these children.
Looking back over her personal and professional experience, her
greatest interest is developing information and materials that will help
families understand the consequences of brain injury and prepare
them for the changes in their lives.
The founding of Lash and Associates Publishing/Training, Inc. in 1996
has been the fulfillment of this dream of providing practical user friendly
information on the effects of brain injury in children and adults. Ms.
Lash is also Vice Chair of the Statewide Advisory Council on Trau-
matic Brain Injury in North Carolina and past Chair of the Board of
Directors for the Brain Injury Association of North Carolina. She has
served on many national advisory boards and editorial boards.
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Just hearing the words, "Your child
has a brain injury" can be incredibly
frightening. The implications may be
confusing and overwhelming. As a
parent, you want to protect your child.
A brain injury can leave you feeling
frustrated and powerless.
We hope that this booklet provides
hope and empowers you with infor-
mation and knowledge to help your-
self and your child. You will find a
lot of information in the following
pages. Do not be overwhelmed as you
will find "Help Sheets" in the back of
this booklet to guide you.
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The words “family” and “parents” are used often in this booklet.
They are used in a general sense and include all parents -whether
married, single, widowed or divorced. There are also families where
parenting is done by step-parents, grandparents, adoptive parents,
foster parents, guardians, and even close friends or relatives. Families
have many different members and living arrangements. Not all chil-
dren live at home or with both parents. Please apply the words family
and parents to your situation.
The word “child” is used to apply to all ages whether an infant,
toddler, school-age child or adolescent. Despite our children’s fre-
quent wish to grow up as soon as possible, they are still their parents’
children.
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