Blog Archives - Page 3 of 15

08Nov 2021 by Drew Niemann

142: Embracing Unique with Alison Rheaume

Hello Warriors and Battle Buddies! Welcome to A BATTLE WITHIN, Episode 142 with today's special guest Alison Rheaume Back in February 2016, Alison became part of this community when she was hit in the head by a commercial door, recovered and then the same year Alison had experiences another TBI this one lands her in the hospital for various reasons. During this time period Alison says that she has gone from "lost to found" and has since become an artist, a strong advocate for this community and has learned to embrace her unique self. Alison, or Ali as she like to be called, has an amazing positive energy that is contagious, I promise. Throughout the conversation we touch on Ali's perspectives in finding her uniqueness, how the community can help itself…

01Nov 2021 by Drew Niemann

141: Celebrate Little Wins with Emily and Warren Goss

Blog, Podcast Episodes

Hello Warriors and Battle Buddies! Welcome to A BATTLE WITHIN, Episode 141 with today's special guests Emily and Warren Goss Emily offered to come onto the program about a month before releasing this episode. She wanted to do her part in helping the community by sharing her story and having her father offer his experiences as well. The native of Vancouver, Canada came into this world after getting hit by a car in the streets of London, England while visiting some friends. Emily was comatose for months and actually made the trek in a air ambulance from London to Vancouver during this time. Warren tells us quite a bit about this scary adventure. Fortunately for Emily, she has an outstanding support team which includes many therapists, her family and her…

25Oct 2021 by Drew Niemann

140: Building Blocks

Blog, Podcast Episodes

Hello Warriors and Battle Buddies! Welcome to A BATTLE WITHIN, Episode 140 Healing from a Traumatic Brain Injury is one of those situations where one must do do step by step. We are all aware that it doesn't happen all at once, nor overnight. Today Terry and I look at this through the lens of "Building Blocks". We use our personal experiences as the basis of the conversation and to point out is certainly a process that requires one to take it one win at a time. We go all the way back the beginning where Terry was more or less locked down in a chair 24/7 with the pain she was fighting and walk through the process/journey she has been on up to date. Terry takes us on the…

18Oct 2021 by Drew Niemann

139: Flattening the Nerve with Alexa Frongillo

Blog, Podcast Episodes

Hello Warriors and Battle Buddies! Welcome to A BATTLE WITHIN, Episode 139 with today's special guest Alexa Frongillo Alexa spent a year traveling the world as she worked remotely. At one point she get T-boned on her bike by a car while in Mexico. What's it like to have this happen and be so far away from home? Alexa let's us know what happened and how she handled the accident and it's aftermath. Ironically Alexa's injury coincides in parallel to the Covid Epidemic and has done a wonderful job in documenting that in her video series called "Flattening the Nerve." Alexa tells us about her injury, her strong belief in using homeopathic treatments such as a Whole Food, Plant-Based Anti inflammatory diet and Epson Salt Baths and Compression boots as…

11Oct 2021 by Drew Niemann

138: Can a TBI Change Your Life For The Better?

Blog, Podcast Episodes

Hello Warriors and Battle Buddies! Welcome to A BATTLE WITHIN, Episode 138 Is it actually possible to move your life along and actually develop as a person after a TBI? We think so around here and believe whole-heartily that is that it is certainly possible. In today's discussion we go over this and offer some insight into how it changed things for us and he we believe in some ways improved things. A few examples include how Terry's accident served as a reminder of how precious life is, how getting off the hamster wheel of life was tremendously important in reality and how it has lead to speaking our minds more freely and living without procrastination now. It's important to note that this also changes those close to the Warrior…

04Oct 2021 by Drew Niemann

137: Tips for Being Your Own Advocate

Blog, Podcast Episodes

Hello Warriors and Battle Buddies! Welcome to A BATTLE WITHIN, Episode 137 Advocacy can be a challenging thing, especially when your world is turned upside down, your in pain, and maybe even struggling to find yourself again. This can be a real struggle and one that cannot be pushed aside as one tries to heal. In today's conversation Drew and Terry explore this topic, offer some insight from their experiences, some resources available, as well as some strategies that might help you as you learn to or look to enhance your own ability on this front. Advocacy is all about self sponsorship and not raising your hand and waiting, but an active and ongoing necessity. It is also not only reserved for the medical and legal professionals, but in all…

27Sep 2021 by Drew Niemann

136: Injuries as Opportunities with Kristen Curry

Blog, Podcast Episodes

Hello Warriors and Battle Buddies! Welcome to A BATTLE WITHIN, Episode 136 with today's special guest Kristen Curry Kristen had an accident on her bicycle back in February 2015. Since that point she has been digging out and trying to heal. She has taken the approach of using many different, what might be considered "alternative" methods and approaches along the way. She feels that the changed her life significantly for the better. This came after not really getting much out of the traditional treatments. Like many, after the injury she lost her job, her hobbies, and many of her friends. But she also found her spark, her energy and her confidence during these toughest of times. Today Kristen finds herself in a very good spot, and is in year 1 of her PhD…

20Sep 2021 by Drew Niemann

135: Vision Wins! with Dr. Patrick Quaid

Blog, Podcast Episodes

Hello Warriors and Battle Buddies! Welcome to A BATTLE WITHIN, Episode 135 with today's special guest Dr. Patrick Quaid The conversation that we offer today is one of the most important ones yet in my view. Dr. Quaid is a leading authority in vision as it relates to Traumatic Brain injury and learning difficulties. He has gotten into this line of work based solely on his own concerns as he too is a TBI warrior. The through-line of all his work/career has been his studying of how the brain processes visual information. Dr. Quaid has lectured over 750 times world wide, has been an author of many research studies and books on the topic and is pretty adamant that the tag "Mild" needs to go away as it relates to head…

13Sep 2021 by Drew Niemann

134: Terry’s Takes 11.0

Blog, Podcast Episodes

Hello Warriors and Battle Buddies! Welcome to A BATTLE WITHIN, Episode 134! On the program today we offer another installment of Terry's Takes. In this episode we explore the following topics. Marijuana as Part of the Treatment Plan, Symptoms Not on the Checklist, and Stress After Injury. As always Terry is completely honest with her experiences around her healing and today's episode is no exception. In addition, Terry let's us all know that she finds a good deal of pressure in these episodes and wants to make sure they are useful to you. Please let us know. Throughout the conversation Terry gets quite candid and offers her perspective about how the wheels can fall off the bus when she is highly stressed which includes body pain. She also believe that there is a connection…

06Sep 2021 by Drew Niemann

133: Calming Big Emotions with Dr. Jennifer Blanchette

Blog, Podcast Episodes

Hello Warriors and Battle Buddies! Welcome to A BATTLE WITHIN, Episode 133 with today's special guest Dr. Jennifer Blanchette This episode like so many others is an important one. Statistics indicate that 1 in 5 people who suffer from a Brain Injury need some serious mental health treatment, yet so many don't get it. In fact, in many cases the medical community is unaware of the need and/or not not trained in it. Dr. Blanchette is a clinical psychologist who practices out of Freeport, Maine here in the U.S. She specializes in treating PCS and ABI's patients and has been doing so for more than 10 years. Dr. Blanchette works diligently with those people having difficulties returning to the work/school environments and helping those affected understand their emotions after a…