C O N S U M E R
O
R
N
E
R
Hey, I’m Brenna! Thanks to the AZ Spinal Cord Injury Association for choosing to highlight me in their Consumer Corner this month. Life with a spinal cord injury can be challenging at times, sure, but isn’t it challenging for everyone? I’m grateful to share my story so that others can hopefully see that although an SCI might be a tough curveball, I think that if we look it right, we can still hit it out of the park and live completely awesome lives.
My Story
When I was 18 years old I was involved in a car accident. It was August 27th, a Friday night in my small Massachusetts hometown, and I was being a young dumb teenager, booze-cruising around town on my last hoorah before heading off to college. At the end of the night, barely 400 yards away from home, the two guys driving lost control. The truck that I was in with my boyfriend-of-the-time tumbled off the road, through a barn and into a corn field. As an unrestrained passenger, I was ejected from the truck and found shortly afterwards with the door of the vehicle on top of me. Of course, I was life-flighted to a hospital nearby but of course, I remember none of this…
I had suffered a few handfuls of broken bones, a ruptured spleen, a brain injury, and a pneumothorax. For a while, things looked bleak, but ultimately, an awesome team of doctors pulled out all the stops and I started to improve medically. After two weeks or so in the hospital, I moved to Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital and began my new life with a T4 spinal cord injury.
Each month, we want to highlight a consumer of the AZSCIA and hear their story, and see the remarkable things people are doing around the community. We know everyone has a unique journey that got them to where they are today, and we hope to highlight that. If you have someone that you want to recommend for this section, please feel free to call us or leave us an email.
This month we are highlighting Brenna Bean. She is going to tell us a little about her injury, challenges she faces living with SCI, and advice she has for individuals who are newly injured. Take a few minutes to read Brenna's empowering story.
11