This former pediatric nurse became a medical refugee after a workplace accident resulted in a traumatic brain injury when she sought to help vaccinate a child. If you have experienced Nikki Lawley then you will not be surprised to hear her say “I am more than my brain injury.” Our podcast conversation centered on how Nikki went about identifying medicine to address her injuries and it is one way to understand what medical patients experience. As a result of her injury, Nikki has become a fearless educator and an advocate for herself and other medical patients.
As an authentic voice, she has written, “Our brains no longer work the same. We have cognitive deficiencies that don’t make sense, even to us. Some of us struggle to find the right words, while others can’t remember what they ate for breakfast. People don’t understand, including some close to us, get annoyed with us and think we’re being ‘flaky’ or not paying attention, which couldn’t be further from the truth. We have to try even harder to pay attention to things because we know we have deficiencies.”
This sums up the plight of many suffering from an invisible injury. Yet we cannot forget patients are more than their brain injury. Join Nikki this month in observing Brain Injury Awareness Month and visit Nikki and the Plant to educate yourself and help others. Listen to our conversation on the podcast platform of your choice.
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