75 Matches for Craig Sears

Craig Sears Age 27

Mayhill, NM

Also known as: craig___420

Craig Sears lives in Mayhill, New Mexico. He is a 2011 graduate of Cloudcroft High School. Among his favorite bands are Eagles, Metallica, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Dr. Dre, Pink Floyd, Van Halen and The Wall.

• #Cloudcroft High

Craig Sears Age 33

Old Forge, NY

Also known as: craigolas85

Craig Sears lives in Old Forge, New York.

Craig Sears Age 32

Columbus, OH

Craig Sears lives in Columbus, OH.

Craig Sears Age 51

New York, NY | Norwalk, CT

Also known as: voice

Craig Sears lives would be completely different today. I am now writing in efforts to share my experiences and struggles, to offer support and encouragement, and to instill hope and a sense of faith. Writing has given me a new sense of purpose, while I personally continue to heal and recover. I strive to help others realize that they are not "alone" in their personal struggles. Not many people know my story and very few often ask. I don’t mind when someone ask me "What happened." In fact I wish they would ask. It was a beautiful summer afternoon. I was out driving my motorcycle. I had just turned 20 years old and I had a lot going for me. I was making a very good life for myself. I had a great family. I had a good job in construction and also as a part time mechanic. I was making good money for a kid my age. I had a great social life, lots of friends, and I was very popular. I had a great girlfriend. I had 2 cars, a motorcycle, and lived in a nice condo right on the water. I was living the American Dream. Life was great. And in a heartbeat, it was all gone. Suddenly, I came up over a hill, and there was a car going the wrong way. It was too late. I couldn't stop and we collided. I was thrown nearly 40 feet over on-coming traffic. I landed head first into a curb, just missing a telephone pole. I have no memory of the next 6 months. That period of time is a Black Hole in my life. I was in and out of a coma, undergoing multiple surgeries. The doctors operated on my head, and did what they could to patch up my body. This was the beginning of my physical recovery. Though my body was healing, a bigger problem went untreated. And no one realized it. Insult was added to injury. This is where I fell through the cracks. Despite having my head in a cast, no one identified the true nature of my injury me as being a Traumatic Brain injury (TBI). That oversight would cost me dearly in the years to come. I had no idea of the hell I was in for. Had I known what lay ahead, I would never have fought so damn hard to make it. I would have given up, lay down and died. My struggles were constant. I had to relearn everything, How to walk, how to talk, how to eat, how to use the bathroom. How to care for myself, and then there was the incessant pain, the physical pain of my body overcoming weakness and injury. Worse yet there was the anguish of not knowing who I was. Things went from bad to worse. Soon, the treatment center I was in transferred me to a mental health ward. I spent the next 9-months locked in against my will, slowly regaining my memory, and a growing sense that this type of life wasn't for me. I was angry. I wanted out. I began calling out to anyone who would listen to me Town officials, State Government, anyone who could get me out. While I knew I didn't need to be there, I did know that I needed help in other areas. But the help I needed wasn't available. This was not a mental health issue. Eventually, a sympathetic ear at the Connecticut Governor's office helped arrange a meeting between my family, my doctors, and a state representative. I told them all, I wanted out, I needed out. And it was clear to them that I was right. But where was I to go? I had only one real option, and that was my family. Yet I didn't want to be a burden to my parents. I applied for Section 8 disability housing, and was put on a waiting list. I was turned down repeatedly. So in the meantime, my family helped me get into my own one room efficiency apartment. While a big step up from the psychiatric ward, this too, was far from ideal. I now found myself living alone, except for the roaches and rats, and vulnerable, in an area known for drug dealers and prostitutes. I wandered those mean streets, trying to regain some kind of memory. I would watch other people to see what they were doing, how they were acting in order to regain anything that I knew how to do before the accident. All I could figure out at this time was that this was not who I was. With time and my families help, things began to improve for me. My mother got me a weight set, my father bought me a bicycle and I started volunteering at a local hospital. That gave me access to their physical therapy rooms. I'd learn what they were doing for rehabilitation and go back home at night to do the exercises on my own in order to regain my strength and abilities. But without any medical oversight, I'd over do it. I hurt myself repeatedly. Many times, my mother took me to the hospital because I hurt so bad that I couldn't walk or move. Socially, things were awkward. One day after volunteering, I was leaving the hospital. I saw a woman fall to the floor. My instincts were to grab a wheelchair, put her in it and run her into the emergency room. I thought I was doing the right thing. But in reality, my actions upset the emergency room staff, and the next day, the hospital asked me not to return. I was crushed. One of the lasting consequences of my TBI was that I would slur my words when I spoke. And my balance would be off when I walked. Instead of realizing that this is how I am, people just assumed that I was drinking or using drugs. No one would take me seriously. It became harder and harder to find where I fit in. With the help of my family, I moved into and out of different apartments. But the pieces of mind and my life didn't fit quite right. I was restless, and depressed. I struggled to cope. I turned to what I had seen so many others do on the streets: alcohol and drugs. I had learned the wrong way to deal with my problems. I thought it would help me forget all that I had gone through. Everything I had long fought for, I now started to lose. It was all slipping away. I found myself alone and getting into trouble more often, ending up in shelters, local lockups, and numerous mental health facilities all over the state. Why? Because there was no help for TBI survivors, I continued to spiral down, and soon I wound up homeless, and not long after that, in prison. The police, the court, the judge and the law, didn't know, care or consider TBI, or the fact that I had one. And once behind bars, neither did the warden. I served 5-years for what other people would sleep off overnight in the local lockup, and then clear up with a brief court appearance. Instead, I ended up inside a level four, high security prison, surrounded by gang members, rapists, killers, and child molesters. I was locked in a 9'x12' cell twenty-four hours a day with a vicious inmate next to me. While behind bars, I received absolutely no help for my disabilities. There was no early release, or time off for good behavior from my sentence. TBI or not, I served every measure of that sentence to the fullest. And I suffered regularly the indignities associated with such an environment that common decency prevents me from sharing here. It was hell. Somehow, I survived to be released in 2003. And again I needed a place to call home. After 20 years of waiting and being turned down, I turned to a local Congressman's office for help. Within 2 months, they cut through the red tape, and I finally received recognition of my TBI. And I was accepted into a HUD Section 8 housing unit. Life though continues to be a struggle. I have no friends. I have no money. I have few options, and fewer choices. I am very uncertain of my future. I still want the American Dream, but it feels further away than ever. I want to be hopeful, but I know all too well how quickly good can go bad in life. But I try my best to help those with TBI get the help they need, and to avoid the mistakes, and missteps I made. My advocacy started as means to overcome my own difficulties. It's become my mission to make sure that no one else has to go through what I have. In 1993 – Present, I became a spokesman for Connecticut Brain Injury Association advocating for Connecticut's Acquired Brain Injury Medicaid Waiver, implemented in 1999. This waiver allows the state to permit organizations to provide non-medical services to people with TBI enabling them to live in the community outside of nursing homes and institutions. 2003 – 2008, Goodwill Industries of Western Connecticut - Programs & Services. 2004 - Present, Board Member, Survivor, Connecticut Traumatic Brain Injury Advisory Board. In 2006 – Present, I am part of the State of Connecticut Department of Social Services’ DSS attempts to make more awareness on brain injury for minorities and the underserved. DSS made a banner with a variety of cultures including myself and a child i.e.: shaken baby syndrome these banner is placed all over the state. In 2008 – Present, I've really found my Voice for TBI. In January, I was approached by the Sarah Jane Brain Project. The Brain Project heard about me and my story, and they have since used that as part of a nationwide campaign to show an example of what can happen when brain injury goes untreated. 2008 through 2010, I appeared regularly on a talk show on Citizens Television, Inc. With the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs New Haven Vet Center Readjustment Counseling Svc. Title of Show. The Sandbox Chronicles Getting the Word Out to Our OEF/OIF Veterans Recently as well, I have been asked by the State of CT’s Health Service Program Director for the Department of Corrections to assist with the re-entering for inmates with TBI as a peer support mentor. I can easily relate and help these inmates because I have been there; done that in the same system and process they are going through. I will be informing the inmates about what is available for after care re-entering into society. Cable News 12 did an editorial on brain injuries, featuring me. Cablevision editorials featured me as their Hometown Hero segment on my efforts to putting a voice to traumatic brain injury in hopes that it will help present and future people dealing with the challenges and changes of TBI. The Sarah Jane Brain Foundation is one of the leading organizations in the country dealing with pediatric acquired brain injury (PABI), and its Advisory Board is comprised of over 200 leading experts from just about every major medical institution (from MD Anderson and Johns Hopkins to Mayo Clinic and Mount Sinai) and research university (from Harvard and Yale to UCLA and UNC) in the country. This Advisory Board created the National Pediatric Acquired Brain Injury Plan (PABI Plan) which develops a seamless, standardized, evidence-based system of care that is universally accessible for the millions of PABI families across the country it’s an honor and privilege to be a part of their historic and ground breaking work In recognition of my years of TBI advocacy efforts; SJBF has named me to the Family Committee of its National Advisory Board. "I was told by a lot of good people that I was kept around for a reason. Maybe this is it." The lives of all the Family Committee members have been directly touched by Pediatric Acquired Brain Injuries PABI. They are either PABI survivors like me, or parents of children injured or killed by a brain injury. Their combined experiences are helping to shape the Projects message, goals and policies. In 2009, I've also taken part in their nationwide PABI Hero's Tour. In Boston, MA,  New York, NY, District of Columbia, DC, Raleigh, NC, Helena, MT, Madison, WI, Lincoln, NE, Atlanta, GA, Miami, FL, Birmingham, AL, Pittsburgh, PA, Columbus, OH, Chicago, IL, Dallas TX, Denver, CO, Tempe, AZ, Los Angeles, CA, Seattle, WA "This is a blessing to me, it gives meaning to my many years of struggle". The purpose of the tour was to raise awareness and create philanthropy for local PABI families across the country. Each host institution listed in the tour schedule conduct a two-hour panel discussion surrounding one of the seven Categories of Care as outlined in the National PABI Plan. In the months since then; I have given my testimony on living with a Traumatic Brain injury in Washington DC on Capital Hill with Patrick and Sarah Jane Donohue several times. On July 13, 2009, I also got to present my personal experience/story at the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research. While speaking with several U.S Congressman's about my experience, and in hope to make a difference, I've even gotten to present my story at the US Capitol for the announcement of the PABI List of State Lead Centers. In 2010, Voice For My Child, Every 40 seconds an American child or young adult enters an emergency department suffering from a brain injury; the leading experts in our nation dealing with brain injuries have come up with a broad-based, bi-partisan plan to prevent, identify and treat our American youth with over 110 Members of Congress already endorsing it; however Democratic Congressman Frank Pallone from New Jersey and a few of his colleagues on the Energy and Commerce Committee refuse to even allow an up-or-down vote. Does Congressman Frank Pallone really not care about families who have a child or young adult suffering from a brain injury or is he so arrogant he thinks he knows better than the leading experts; The Voice For My Child team just handed out thousands of flyers in Piscataway & Plainfield, right in the heart of Frank Pallone territory (we were amazed at all of the Anna Little signs) a great response so far! In 2011, as a member of the Sarah Jane Brain Foundation National Advisory Board – Family I am pleased to report that Congressman Leonard Lance (NJ-6) announced federal legislation to implement the National Pediatric Acquired Brain Injury Plan (PABI Plan) at Overlook Medical Center on Thursday, June 30, 2011. Joining Congressman Leonard Lance Barbara Geiger-Parker (CEO of the Brain Injury Association of New Jersey) Alan Leiber (CEO of Overlook Medical Center) Patrick Donohue and his six-year-old daughter Sarah Jane the namesake of the Sarah Jane Brain Foundation, along with Traumatic Brain Injury Survivor Craig Sears and other families’ advocates and professionals   What I Value: Faith, family, true friends, education, honesty, love, happy memories, good health, falling and then getting back up as a stronger person, not taking the small things for granite, finding inner peace and balance, and always remembering who helped me get to where I am now.  ,A Voice for Traumatic Brain Injury,

• #Roger Ludlowe High School