Does anyone have or know someone with a traumatic brain injury?

I'm doing this for research to help me understand this condition. I don't really understand that much about it, and I know it also has varying degrees. That's why I'm asking from two sources; those that have one and those that know someone with a TBI.

How does TBI affect you or your friend's/relative's life?

What happened that caused you to get a TBI?

How old were you when you were diagnosed with TBI?

I really hope you'll help me figure out how to write a story based on this. I want to try new things and become a better writer.

I haven't really been on this site much so this is the first time I'm seeing this. But my dad suffered a TBI (mild, I think was the degree?) when I was in 9th grade (about 14ish then?).

My dad at the time was a biker, he rode his motorcycle practically everywhere. In the state that we live in, Delaware, we don't have any helmet laws so most people don't wear one, including my dad at the time (although he always made me and my mom wear one). However thankfully when this happened, he was riding in a state that required one (I think Maryland) and we're pretty sure that saved his life.

We're not exactly sure what happened, but we think my dad's bike malfunctioned while he was riding at 50+ mph causing him to take an emergency pull-over at high speeds that wrecked his bike and threw him off. We don't think he was run over or anything.

My dad now has a lot of memory loss, has trouble concentrating, will have random spikes in his temper, and no longer has a filter (meaning he says a lot of shit he doesn't always mean or realizes that he's saying). He's changed in a lot of ways too, just in terms of his demeanor (like if you knew him before and then met him now, you'd definitely realize there's been a massive shift in who he is, but it's not something that's necessarily quantifiable), and he used to struggle with alcoholism beforehand versus now he has no taste for alcohol and barely drinks. His job at the government was unaccommodating in terms of dealing with this (ie giving him reminders on deadlines because of his forgetfulness) and eventually forced him to take medical retirement before he was ready, yet he was denied disability from social security.

Things have just been really weird for us since the accident and tbh I don't think my family has ever really recovered. We're not very good at handling problems, and so instead just kind of have been ignoring it/acting like everything was fine even as things sort of deteriorated.

Around the same time as this happened in 2009, a snowboarder named Kevin Pearce sustained a TBI while training for the Olympics. My mom followed his story a lot, I guess as a way to deal with what had happened with my dad. I just found an article about it where he describes what it was like that might also help you. It can be found here. There was also a documentary made about his accident and subsequent recovery called The Crash Reel.

I wish you luck with your story, if you are still interested in writing it.