Medical Brain

Donny Herbert was a hardworking Buffalo city firefighter who, in December 1995, was searching the attic of a burning house when the snow-laden roof collapsed. For six minutes he was without oxygen. A beloved husband, a father of four boys, Donny fell into a vegetative state that lasted nearly a decade. He was, for all practical purposes, gone. Until one day, in April 2005, when he woke up and spoke almost nonstop to his family and loved ones for nearly 18 hours.

When Tom DeBaggio turned 57 in 1999, he thought he was embarking on the golden years of retirement -- time to spend with his family, his friends, and the herb garden he spent decades cultivating. One winter day, he told his doctor during a routine exam that he had been stumbling into forgetfulness. After it subsequent battery of tests, DeBaggio joined the legion of 12 million others afflicted with Alzheimer's disease.

In November of 1970, the Finell family's lives were changed forever by a family vacation to Acapulco. Seven-year-old Stephanie fell ill soon after their return to the United States, but her mother, Karin, thinking it was an intestinal disorder, kept her home from school for a few days. She was completely unprepared when Stephanie went into violent convulsions on a Friday morning. Following a series of tests at the hospital, doctors concluded she had contracted viral equine encephalitis while in Mexico.

“Discharged from a hospital just means you’re not dead.” These words of Ralph B. Lilly, M.D., describe his early struggle to recover from a traumatic brain injury. Lilly was a forty-four-year-old practicing neurologist sitting on his motorcycle at a red light when a drunk driver rear-ended him in 1980. In the ICU, after regaining consciousness and being told what happened, he asked, “What’s a hospital? What’s a motorcycle?” This tragic experience transformed his life and his approach to his neurology practice: doctors treat those with brain injury; but loved ones heal them.

The summer before she was set to head out of state to pursue her MFA, 26-year-old Cole Cohen submitted herself to a battery of tests. For as long as she could remember, she'd struggled with a series of learning disabilities that made it nearly impossible to judge time and space - standing at a crosswalk, she couldn't tell you if an oncoming car would arrive in 10 seconds or 30; if you asked her to let you know when 10 minutes had passed, she might notify you in a minute or an hour.

Allison shares her revealing story in The Angel Inside: A Young Woman's Healing Journey Through Coma and Brain Injury. Her book is a multi-sensory description of what it was like to be in a coma from the inside looking out, on a mental, emotional, physical and spiritual level, how she was able to heal, her evolving relationship with God, as well as how we can be of better assistance to people in need of care.

Angela Leigh Tucker had not expected death that day. Newlywed, thirty years old and a successful public relations professional, she and her husband were driving home when a semi-truck hurtled over the center-lane divider and crushed their SUV. Her husband died on impact. She was left hanging onto life by a thin, golden thread. With her brain severely injured and her neck, shoulder, and ribs broken, she had instantly lost everything but her will to live.

Patti Davis, the daughter of Ronald and Nancy Reagan, writes about losing her father to Alzheimer's disease, saying goodbye in stages, and watching the progression of a disease that steals what is most precious: a person's memory. Past and present come together in this illuminating portrait of grief, of a man, a disease, and a girl and her father.

In August, 2013, Special Forces Green Beret Andrew Marr returns home from another deployment a quietly broken man. Enduring the last of many traumatic brain injuries, Marr works as a breacher for his Special Forces team and finds himself in close proximity to a number of explosive blasts. During Tales from the Blast Factory, Marr's "silent wound" begins to manifest in radical physical and behavioral changes that derail him, resulting in a desperate search for help.

The New York Times best-selling author of The Beck Diet Solution teams up with her daughter and colleague at the Beck Institute for Cognitive Behavior to teach listeners how to think their way thin, offering practical, proven tools for escaping common diet traps for good.

I have had Parkinson’s disease (PD) for 22 years. I am told I have a mild case, but it is still my PD, and I live with it 24/7. It would be a gross understatement to say my life was changed forever. Interestingly, many of these changes have made me a more compassionate, empathetic, and caring person. In part, this book was motivated by the following premise: Many of us will experience a life-changing event that will cause us to pause and reassess where we are, what we do, and why we do it. For some, it might be the death of a loved one or a personal tragedy.

An amazing, true story of how author E. Michal Gayer, through the application of Biblical healing principles, was healed from an aggressive, incurable, life-threatening brain tumor. This account takes Biblical understanding beyond the surface, to the deep, intimate, personal level where we live. He discusses many nuances to Biblical healing that are rarely addressed, and spiritual steps that can be taken to appropriate healing. The audiobook answers many of the questions that surround Biblical healing, and is a much sought-after assist to people struggling to receive healing from God.

Your work life is boring, and your marriage has grown stale. The diets you’ve tried for the last 10 years have gotten you nowhere, and you feel tired, worn out, and unproductive. It’s time for a change, but not one prescribed by another self-help podcast or Instagram influencer. You need a real solution—one that will help you rediscover the real you.

Ronald Reagan’s daughter writes with a moving openness about losing her father to Alzheimer’s disease. The simplicity with which she reveals the intensity, the rush, the flow of her feelings encompasses all the surprises and complexities that ambush us when death gradually, unstoppably invades life.

Almost 11,700 people are diagnosed each year with a primary brain tumor, including 500 children and young people – that's 32 people every day. There are more than 120 different types. This book is one family's touching account of living with a brain tumor spanning over a decade.