personal story

  • A First-person Account

     brain photo illustrative for A First Person Account by Dr. Maria Romanas

    Maria Romanas, MD, PhD, writes about living with the symptoms of traumatic brain injury. Dr Romanas is a pathologist at the VA Medical Center in Kansas City.

    My story is an example of what it takes to salvage a life and career from severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). It took me 13 years to diagnose myself with a brain injury and 16 more years to find the cognitive rehabilitation I needed to maximize my functional recovery. For the most part, I did this on my own.