For my post, I decided to read the blog " I Got Hit By a Boat" by Edgar 'Tyson' Ward IV. As an avid boater myself, this blog post immediately grabbed my attention. In this blog, Tyson recounts the story of his boating accident that occurred on June 10th, 2010. On what was supposed to be a routine fishing trip, a horrific accident occurred that left both Tyson and his father in a coma. While his father's injuries were not as severe; Tyson stayed in a coma for the next 99 days. Once he awoke from his coma an interesting phenomenon transpired, Tyson remembered basic information such as his name, where he lives, where he works, and where he is currently going to college, it was until his mother asked him his age that they realized something was off. More questioning followed, and it was revealed that the last year or so of Tyson's life had been wiped away from his memory. After reading this, I was very interested to learn more about what caused this type of amnesia and what role his coma played in the erasure of the last 12 months worth of his memories.
Tyson's explanation of his coma is as follows "Your brain chooses to go into a coma when your brain is not in good enough shape to keep you in an awake/aware state and repair all your body’s injuries." (Ward, 2012). In order to understand this phenom more, I read a few different articles online that explained how after a TBI (traumatic brain injury) occurs, damage to specific parts of the brain can lead to memory loss; with short-term memory being more affected than long-term. The brain system that can most directly be related to this memory loss is the limbic system where structures, such as the thalamus and amygdala, that control emotion and memory are located. Tyson's condition would be defined as neurological amnesia, which occurs after injury to the brain and explains why some parts of his life are concrete memory and the more recent events had slipped away (Amnesia, 2022). This blog acted as a way to solidify the knowledge about memory and brain systems I have previously learned in neurobiology. I loved this post because the author did a wonderful job describing other aspects of comas that are often overlooked such as weight loss and how life for a college student ( just like myself) is altered. Tyson's story is one of perseverance and his dedication to healing (with the help of occupational, physical, speech, and recreational therapy of course) acted as a huge inspiration for me and validated the choice I made when I decided to become an Occupational Therapist. I strongly recommend taking the time to read his full story on his blog linked below!
References
Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. (2022, November 18). Amnesia. Mayo Clinic. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/amnesia/symptoms-causes/syc-20353360#:~:text=Any%20disease%20or%20injury%20that,the%20center%20of%20the%20brain.
Ward, E. (2012, January 21). I Got Hit By a Boat... and Want To Tell My Story.
https://igothitbyaboat.yourwebsitespace.com/
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