Fall 2016- UCI Magazine
Their stories are wrenching, but told matter-of-factly.
Wayne lives in the moment, he says, not because he wants to, but because a motocross accident injured his brain, causing seizures and robbing him of the ability to remember what happened yesterday, or even 20 minutes ago.
David, who also traces his brain injuries to a motocross accident, is troubled by aphasia, a condition that deprives its victims of their communication skills. “You know what you want to say, but you can’t say it,” he explains.
Today the two men – and several other members of Coastline Community College’s Acquired Brain Injury Program – are talking about the drastic ways their lives were altered when their accidents occurred. They’re also talking about Brooke Herd, a UCI student who spent months working with their class as part of the School of Social Ecology’s distinguished field study program.