Ruth Wilcock
Executive Director, OBIA
Brain injury happens in an instant – a car crash, sports injury, fall, blow to the head, a stroke – changing a person’s life forever.
Brain injury happens in an instant — a car crash, sports injury, fall, blow to the head, a stroke — changing a person’s life forever.
Acquired brain injury (ABI) is the leading cause of death and disability worldwide, with close to 500,000 people living with a brain injury in Ontario. Brain injury does not discriminate, it happens to people of all ages, genders, sexual orientations, and ethnicities.
A person who is homeless, one’s neighbour, a victim of violence, may be suffering in silence with a brain injury.
Intimate partner violence is a common cause of concussions or brain injury, largely unrecognized as a public health issue. It’s estimated that for every NHL player who suffers a concussion during the season, approximately 7,000 Canadian women suffer the same injury at the hands of their intimate partner each year. This equates to about 250,000 new cases every year.The impacts of brain injury are complex and include a high association with other health conditions, such as mental health, chronic pain, and substance use.
Often people feel alone and lost, so much has changed in such a short time including a sense of loss and the task of building a new identity.
Organizations like the Ontario Brain Injury Association (OBIA) are working to shine a light on brain injury to raise public awareness on just how common brain injuries are and to let people living with these injuries know there’s help and hope for them.
