‘Pay attention to your body’
♦ Tiffany Garigan warns that brain injuries don’t all look the same.
Back in November, the Calhoun Times featured Tiffany Garigan and her ongoing battle with epileptic seizure episodes — a struggle she’s faced since her mid-20s.
March is Brain Injury Awareness Month, and the Calhoun native wants to do her part to spread the word and shed light on those who may be living with both diagnosed and undiagnosed damage.
Garigan’s epilepsy can be traced back to a blood clots that originated in her legs around age 25, which caused a loss of oxygen and blood to her brain shutting her body down.
This month isn’t only notable for Garigan becuase it’s Brain Injury Awareness Month, but because it also annually marks the beginning of her own personal battle.
“In the beginning, I was given two hours to live,” Garigan said. “That was in March 2012. This March will be 11 years.”
While probably not the typical idea of what can cause a brain injury, the effect of Garigan’s damage from clotting blood ended up with many of the same issues as someone who may have experience blunt force head trauma or a serious concussion.
Perhaps initially even more frustrating that brain damage that might have occurred more overtly from something like a car wreck, fall, sports or combat-related injury, Garigan’s initial diagnosis took several days of extensive tests to even pinpoint.
“commitment i have learned to re-define myself by learning who Tiffany is with brain injury, it’s taken some time, evolving and
but i am all in. i also encourage people to pay attention their bodies, do your research and build
healthy relationships with their medical team.”
“I have seen many doctors,” Garigan said. “I learned how to walk, talk, swallow, write and care for my throughout my recovery.”
Every day is an ongoing battle to re-learn life, and make small advancements while staying open to accepting an always moving target of what is her “new normal.”
“Some things I still deal with are short-term memory and balance to name a few,” Garigan said. “My vision came back but I still have some peripheral weakness.
I have plenty more too lol. Our brains have a miraculous way of healing and miracles do happen.”
Garigan said that going forward, she lives by the quote “embrace life with a positive approach.”
“I have learned to re-define myself by learning who Tiffany is with brain injury, it’s taken some time, evolving and commitment but I am all in,” Garigan said. “I also encourage people to pay attention their bodies, do your research and build healthy relationships with their medical team.”
Garigan is now a life coach, and readers can learn more about that endeavor at her website peacegracelife.com online. She has also written a book “Lifeline: A Devotional Journey,” released in 2019. Copies can be purchased online.
Tiffany Garigan