When someone suffers a brain injury, the outcome of the injury is often hard to predict. In some cases the injured individual returns to normal within a short amount of time. Other times, the life of the person who suffered the injury is never the same. A Pennsylvania man, who suffered a serious brain injury in an industrial accident several years ago, knows this all too well.

Following the incident, which involved a two-ton steel beam, the man was unable to do the things that most of us likely take for granted, such as walking, eating and talking. In the years since, the man has recovered some of those abilities, though the injury makes it impossible for the man to hold a job. Instead of getting up and going to work each day, the man now assists many others in the state through the volunteer work he does, a task for which he recently received an award.

Though the man has once again passed his driver’s test and has a license, his life is far from what it once was. In addition to years of speech, occupation and physical therapy, the man still regularly sees a clinical neuropsychologist.

While the man in this situation suffered his brain injury in the course of his employment, there are of course many ways in which someone might suffer a serious injury to the brain. In addition to work accidents, athletes of all types suffer brain injuries in the course of practices and games. Perhaps the most well known scenario where such an injury is suffered is car accidents. In these situations it is not uncommon for personal injury lawsuits to be filed.

Source: Tri County Record, “Brain Injury Survivor Inspires Others Through Volunteer Work,” Nov. 12, 2013