March’s designation as Brain Injury Awareness Month is meant to inform the public about brain injury as one of the leading causes of disability and death across the United States, including in Connecticut.

One writer recently shared the dilemma she and her family face because of her sister’s brain damage. Her sister’s injury came from carbon monoxide poisoning in a hotel room, an incident that killed the woman’s husband. She now faces extraordinary challenges in trying to regain both physical and cognitive abilities. Her family is right there with her coping with the effects of a mysterious health condition.

A brain injury can happen to anyone, but it is often referred to as an invisible injury because complications are not always immediately obvious even if they are serious.

About 5.3 million Americans need long-term care or lifetime support due to a traumatic brain injury, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. TBI also kills 53,000 people each year and can occur from any external force that disrupts the brain’s normal functioning including motor vehicle accidents, collisions, gunshot wounds, blasts or explosions, assaults and falls. Acquired brain injury, on the other hand, is a brain injury sustained after birth from hypoxia, tumor, stroke, toxic exposure, substance abuse, infection or illness.

Brain injuries obviously affect all aspects of a person’s life and can be devastating to the person’s family. Aside from the emotional and cognitive toll, brain trauma can be costly because of medical bills, rehabilitation therapy and lost wages.

Anyone who suffers a brain injury because of another party’s negligence has the right to seek compensation. This compensation can help pay for the expensive treatment of this mysterious ailment.

Source: The Huffington Post, “Think: March Is Brain Injury Awareness Month,” Lyrysa Smith, Mar, 14, 2014