My Story
Before the Injury
My name is Nancy Avitabile and I was an accountant who owned my own practice for over 30 years. I sat on the board of directors for several non-profit organizations, usually in the position of treasurer. In addition, I was an amateur triathlete who won the National Triathlete Championship for my age group more than 10 times. I won the World Triathlon Championship for my age group in 2015 and won several silver and bronze medals in other years. In order to accomplish this, I trained very hard almost every day.
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I have always been a very determined and conscientious person in both my professional and sports fields; these traits helped me with my recovery. I had to work just as hard on my recovery as I did in other aspects of my life. The process towards recovery was a long and arduous process, but is something that can be done.
The Injury
In February of 2019, while I was biking, I was struck by a car. This threw me from my bicycle and hit my head on the side of the road, which caused an immediate loss of consciousness. I was in a pool of blood by my head when I was airlifted to a hospital where my Glasgow Coma Scale was 3. This scale measures the responsiveness of an individual and is scored on a scale of 3 to 15. 3 is the lowest score one could have and still be alive while 15 is what a typical, conscious person would score.
I was unconscious for over a week. On the back of my head, on the right side, there was a collection of blood that measured 7mm in width (Subdural Right Hematoma). Additionally, there was a clotting of blood near where the brain meets the spinal cord (Hyperattenuating blood within the anterior lobes involving parenchyma and subarachnoid space). I also had a suspected fracture on the left side of my head (Squamous portion of the left temporal bone). I had a severe traumatic brain injury and I remained in the hospital for 5 weeks.
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After the Injury
Quite a few scientists and researchers have published journal articles that address traumatic brain injury (TBI) recovery. Although much of the research involved non-traditional treatments, these treatments showed great success. Their research sited within this website is what I followed, and I would like to pass along their advice. However, I would like to draw attention to the fact that I did everything contained within this website. Each strategy, exercise, and technique listed on the website may have been responsible for my recovery. I cannot guarantee that any or all of these will work for others nor can I promise that only participating in only a few of them will produce the same results as my situation.
My Current Situation
Everything that is described on this website are things that I have done for over a year. I am not 100% back to the person I was before the accident, but I am doing very well on every front. I cannot say if my recovery is due to every single strategy or if some strategies helped me more than others. What I do know, however, is that doing everything is what worked for me. Since then, I have resumed my running and swimming to the same mileage I was doing before my injury. My balance issues make biking more challenging, but I can now bike for over 30 miles in a single session.
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I have also been able to resume some of my accounting work and still find that my accuracy is continuing to improve. I am capable of doing challenging tax returns and can conduct complicated communications with my family, friends, and co-workers. I no longer experience the depression from my accident and am able to support my friends and family during their own difficult times. I can't say that I'm back to exactly where I was before the injury, but most people cannot tell a difference.