My Coma Diary
Uncover the Truth from Trauma: From the Moments of losing my Conscience, the Frozen Time Within the Coma, the Waking up, the Recovery and Everything That Makes me Today Because of This Experience.
Twenty-five years ago, a single moment shattered my world. At fifteen, I was just a kid, navigating the familiar rhythms of school and home. Then, a bicycle ride, a busy intersection, and a sudden impact changed everything. This is the detailed story of my coma, pieced together from the diaries that my family kept during those agonizing days, interwoven with my own fragmented memories and the echoes of their stories. It's a story of fear, hope, and the enduring power of love. It's a story of survival from where I was to where I am today.
My life without TBI
As a teenager living up till the day of my coma was like most of us will remember from their childhood. I was busy exploring life, friends, (potential) loves, etc. Full of energy of what was a great start of my life. Growing up in a loving family, I had my struggles as well. At a certain age I was being bullied but it never affected me as to really being stressed out about. Just a regular kid with real life experiences where the first ambitions as a professional soccer player kept appearing. I was a kid uninterested in trouble, didnt use drugs, already drank my first beers. and had my social circly of friends during the weekends either socially and in sports.
Dead or alive?: Day 1.
Monday, April 10, 2000 – A Life-Altering Day - The Day of the Accident
I remember nothing about this day and two weeks before (two weeks leading up to the accident from which I lost all of my memory) and therefore base my account purely on witness testimonies.
Like any other day, it began routinely. I, a 15-year-old, woke up, ate breakfast, and grabbed my school bag. Living in a rural area meant my primary mode of transportation to school was my bike. Around 7:30 am, I set off on the four-mile journey, aiming to arrive by 8:00 am. The route was familiar, a mix of quiet country roads leading into the small, organized city where my school was located. It was usually busy with other kids biking to school, as well as local traffic from cars and trucks servicing nearby businesses. I remember mornings like those vividly – the crisp air on my face, the slight chill that made me pedal faster, the anticipation of seeing my friends. Little did I know, this ordinary morning held a life-altering event.
At approximately 7:55 am, I reached a busy intersection. A truck was inexplicably parked just before the crossing. I cycled around it, inadvertently placing myself in the path of an oncoming car. The impact of the collision sent my body flying across the road, where I landed on the left side of my head. To this day, the impact caused by this continues to affect the physical the right side of my body. I was unconscious, unresponsive. Someone called for an ambulance.
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