Brain Boogie walkers raise money for head injuries.
Annual Brain Boogie marks 15th year of fund raising for recuperative programs
When Barb Butler started the Brain Boogie 15 years ago she was looking for a unique way to help the association which had done so much for her.
“We really needed more funds. We were finding that there were more and more survivors needing services and we had to think of a way to raise those funds and so we decided to do a walk,” said Butler.
The 15th annual Brain Boogie in support of the Saskatchewan Brain Injury Association (SBIA) was held Saturday at Wascana Park. Participants walked around the lake to raise money for the association.
For Butler the cause is close to her heart.
On July 24, 1993, her life changed forever. The car she was riding in near Wilcox was struck by a semi and while everyone else walked away with minor injuries, Butler immediately went into a coma for almost three weeks. The next year of her life was forgotten while she recovered.
“I don’t know if I remember things because I remember them or because I’ve been repeatedly (told). I would ask and I would be told what happened,” she said.
While Butler was completing rehab at Wascana Rehab she attended a support group held by SBIA. The group quickly became part of Butler’s monthly routine and she would look forward to it.
However, as the years went on, Butler and her fellow brain injury survivors thought more needed to be done.
“A group of us survivors decided that meeting once a month in the evening just wasn’t working. So we started a weekly support group which continues to this day,” she said, noting the group meets every Thursday.
A few years later Butler helped found the Brain Boogie which allows the SBIA to run other programming for brain injury survivors.
“We wouldn’t be able to do the local programming that we do without it. In fact it wasn’t happening until we started the Brain Boogie,” said Glenda James, SBIA’s executive director.
The SBIA runs weekly drumming circles, coffee meet ups and a caregivers support group, all free of charge.
Since the Brain Boogie started in Regina it has expanded to include walks in Saskatoon, Prince Albert, Yorkton and Moose Jaw. The Regina walk is usually the largest and attracts around 80 people who raise approximately $10,000 annually.
The walk is organized by brain injury survivors and the majority of participants are the survivors and their families.
“This is their world and to do something that they know is making things better for not only themselves but for other survivors, it’s very meaningful to them. I think it’s more what it does for the survivors rather than the money that’s raised,” Butler said.