Hi, there! my name is Hannah Joy Sampson, and I am 7 years old. I am also a survivor of traumatic brain injury.
When I was 3, I was playing outside with my sisters, Sarah Grace and Jennifer Renee', and I happened to run after a ball that had gone into the street. When I did, I got hit by a speeding car. I didn't see the car until it was almost on top of me, and by then, it was too late.
I was horribly injured, according to mama and daddy. My brain bounced against my skull, and it was badly bruised. This is what is known as a "contusion". I also had bleeding later on in my brain, and edema (swelling) of my brain, and I eventually went into a coma.
I don't remember being in the hospital all that much, and I don't remember anything that happened after I got hit by the car; but I DO remember coming home from the hospital. I was in a wheelchair, and I came home from the hospital in a big, white ambulance. I was in the hospital for months, and I wasn't the same little girl I was before I had been hit by the car. All I really remember about that time is mama and daddy crying a lot, and all these doctors looking worridly at me. But that is about all that I remember.
I had to have therapy to learn to walk and talk again; the injury affected my speech, and it affected my balance; and today, four years later, I still walk with a cane. I also have problems with my memory and with my talking. I forget things that just happened, but I can remember things from two years or one year ago. I also forgot everything about my accident except for coming home in the ambulance after I had been released from the hospital. I also have problems with trying to remember things when I am studying or taking notes in class, so my teacher lets me tape her lessons, so I don't have to read or write what she says. It is really hard having memory loss! I also have scars on my head from surgeries I have had on my head (my brain).
I don't know if I'll always have problems, but for now I do, and I don't like being teased about my being on a cane or my walking! I also don't like being teased about my memory problems or my scars!
I sometimes look at pictures of me before my accident, and I often wonder who that little girl is, and I often wish I was the same little girl I was before I got hurt. I don't like being handicapped! :( It's not fair that I was so stupid to run out into the street after that dumb ball like I did! If I hadn't done that, then I wouldn't be handicapped! :(
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