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Listen to me. My daughter walks into walls. She sleeps 20 hours a day. -Lynne Becker
Back in the day, if 2 athletes smashed into one another, coaches would keep them in the game. Not anymore. Traumatic brain injuries, known as TBI, are serious business, and if you doubt this fact, just listen to this interview with Lynne Becker. A biostatistician and epidemiologist with an MS in public health, Lynne has spent her entire career analyzing charts and graphs, looking for clues that lead to better medical outcomes for patients. The single mother of two girls, she got a phone call from her younger daughter’s boarding school hours after Natalie was hit in the head intentionally with a soccer ball by a male student at point-blank range. The force of the blow knocked the 17-year-old unconscious. The athletic trainer told Lynne: “Your daughter can’t talk. She doesn’t know her name or what day it is.” It was at this moment that Lynne’s momma bear instincts, combined with a lifetime of amassing medical information, came into play. Lynne takes us through her constant frustration with her daughter’s school administrators, the school nurse, multiple hospitals, interns, doctors, and neurologists who missed 28 brain bleeds. “Concussion is a broken brain says Lynne, and the patient is never the same.” In fact, it took nearly 4+ years for her daughter to reclaim any normalcy in her young life. Fueled by the power of mother love, Lynne began gathering vital research so that patients and doctors could understand more about concussions. As the creator of powerofpatients.com, this unstoppable mother is a champion for patients, caregivers, and providers with the first patient-led brain injury data warehouse. For a dose of powerful storytelling and vital information on #concussion, just hit that download button.