BGB Master Completed

Brain Go BOOM!
Author/Survivor: John Cooper
Closing Note:
For those afflicted with a brain injury, our stories will never end. Be it a giant, ruptured brain
aneurysm, a soldier injured by a roadside IED, a car accident, or anyone that has suffered an
acquired or traumatic brain injury, including those stricken and with the often overlooked
depression.
The Battle Buddy Foundation:
With a veteran suicide rate averaging 22 every day, the work to support our nation’s veterans has
just begun once they return home. With over 10 times the amount of veterans lost to suicide than
to combat operations in the same time period, there has never been a more important time to
TAKE A STAND and DO something to support our veterans! Just because they come home,
doesn’t mean we stop supporting them!
That’s about one person, one precious life, every 65 minutes! These numbers are staggering and
downright appalling. Can you live with that? I can’t. I believe that if mental health
professionals are brought into the picture when troops are coming home from abroad or after an
aneurysm or any brain injury occurs, people will have an increased chance of becoming a
successful survivor versus living the life of a victim or, worse yet, taking their own life. It
sounds like common sense but things aren’t so common and many things don’t make much sense
to me anymore. Does this make sense to you? If it does, I urge you do something about it!
We suffered a life-altering injury where many of us were surgically repaired but, BOOM!, many
people still ASS-ume we’re fixed and we should just return to normal. Many times, we are
patched up enough to look presentable to others, while not loathing ourselves when we look in
the mirror. Some things will never get better and some things will.
Do you think I am fixed because I was able write this book? Do you think our veterans are fixed
because they may have received a special wheelchair or a new fancy, bionic-looking prosthetic
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