YVONNE Nielsen examines a replica of the human brain. Nielsen has a brain injury ‘she got in a head-on car crash when she was 23. As.a
result, she suffers from physical and mental problems such as short term memory loss and tremors.

“SARAH ARTIS PHOTO

By SARAH ARTIS

.IN MANY ways, Yvonne.

Nielsen is a successful

woman, a role model for

young girls everywhere.
She owns her own home.

She is strong-minded and in- _

dependent. She is passionate
‘about her beliefs and stands
up for herself and her fellow
human beings. And when
she sets a goal for herself,
she doesn’t give. up; she

“sticks to her guns to over-
come any obstacle, no mat-

ter how long it takes.

But a few things separate:

Nielsen from most other role
models.

She limps. Her right.thigh
looks twice as big as her left.
And her arm shakes when
she reaches for her glass.

_ When I ask her how old
she is, she isn’t sure.

“T don’t know,” she says.

To figure it’ out, she
counts backwards on her

fingers, from the year she.

was born.

“Forty-two,” she tells me_

first. “No, maybe 43.”

I wait and she laughs at

herself. She grabs a piece of
. paper and starts to do long-
division math, counting the
numbers under her breath
and concentrating intensely.

After a couple of min- . |

utes, she states with a little
‘ more confidence but still: a
‘touch of uncertainty.

“YT was born in November
of 1963, so I’m 42.”

Nielsen is accustomed to
not remembering things and
she’s not embarrassed about
it. It’s a part of who she is.
Or at least it has been since
she was 23. .

In 1987, Nielsen was liv-
ing on her own in Terrace,
working at Woolworths. A

‘Parietal:
Lobe

Occipital
Lobe

| Cerebel

meeting in’ Pritice George’

couple y years before, she had

graduated with a certificate .
-in special needs education
.from Langara College in

Vancouver and had returned

- home to look for work:

. She was your average
“young . adult.
softball, rode. her bike and

spent lots of time with her

She played

friends and family.

She also volunteered for
the Canadian Cancer Soci-
ety, for which, in October

‘of that’ year, she attended a

"

Two women from Kitimat,
who were also at the meet-
ing, were. giving her a ride
home when they got into a
head-on car collision on the
highway between Houston
and Burns Lake.

“1 can’t. work. |
can’t run. | get tired
when | read a book
and the next night

_I can’t remember
what | just read. My -

neighbouristwoand

a half years old and
IT can’t lift him up, ”

-Yvonne Nielsen

Although all three were
wearing seatbelts, the driver
and front passenger died in-
stantly. Nielsen, who was
sitting in the back, suffered
major injuries.

The impact of the acci-
dent’ jerked her body hard
back and forth, causing her
brain to hit the front then

back of her skull. She suf-

fered a serious closed-head '

brain injury. Her skull was
still in one piece.

Haig

"She also broke her back in

two places and had a stroke,

the result of a blood clot in.

her brain stem at the back of
her neck.” ~
“f don’t remember : the
crash at all,” Nielsen said.
- She was first taken to the

_ hospital in. Burns Lake and
then to Prince George. A
few days later she was flown.

to Shaughnessy Hospital in
Vancouver.
Nielsen was conscious,

“but out of it.
T knew I was being flowii ‘
. to Vancouver but I don’t re-

member the trip at all.”

She had no idea of the ex-
tent of her injuries.

“Y didn’t know what all
the fuss was all about.”

Nielsen spent __ five
months in the hospital, with
her mother at her side. For
months, she felt dizzy con-
stantly and wore a custom-
made, body brace to support
her back-She threw up every
day for two years because of
the damage to her brain.

The resulting problems of
patients with brain injuries
differ from person to person
depending on the part of the
brain injured as well as-their
age at the time of injury, ed-

-ucation level, environment

and personality.

Nielsen’s injuries were

extensive. She damaged four

out of the six major parts of ..

her brain — her parietal, fron-
tal and temporal lobes, and
her cerebellum.

She now. suffers from
short-term memory loss
so she forgets names and
simple information, like her
birthday.

“It took me almost a year.
"me. I get tired even though

to. remember my swimming
teacher’s name. And I saw
her every week,” she said,

Frontal
Lobe |

\

but added, “Whatever’s im-
portant to me, [’ll remember.
Somehow, I’ll remember.”

‘Nielsen also has. speech’
Sometimes, it*

problems.
takes ‘her a few minutes to

“remember the appropriate

word during a conversa-
tion. And when she was first

_ injured, she suffered from

headaches all the time and

was very emotional.
“T still am,” she said, “just

watching the news.”

~ -Another major’

which is frustrating she says
because she wants to do so
many things.

Her physical injuries are |

just as troubling.

Nielsen’s back constantly
causes her pain and she can’t
lift anything heavier than
five pounds.

The whole right side of

her body is damaged as a re- |

sult of the stroke; before the
accident, Nielsen was right-

handed but she now uses her.

left-hand most of the time.
She suffers from tremors
in her right arm, meaning
it shakes if she uses it too
much, gets tired or stressed.
Nielsen’s right leg is the
most -troubling of her bodi-

ly. injuries, however... Ex-

cess water builds up so she

‘needs to wears a tight elastic ©

around the lower half to keep
the liquid in her thigh — both

the elastic and swollen thigh

are uncomfortable.

._ Every day, for a couple
of hours, she wraps her leg
in a lympha-press and waits

while it applies pressures to «

different areas of her leg to
- distribute the liquid.
“That takes a lot out of

I’m lying down.”
Her right foot also has a

* “issue |
"since thé accident is fatigue,

-hospitals,

One woman's story about coping with a brain injury:

3

but it gives her calluses.

, drop, so with each step, her :
toes drag. A cane helps and -
’ she also has an ankle brace

“A lot of times, I get-up- |

_ Set. My brain is saying ‘yeah,

I can do that’. but physically,

“no, [can’t do it.”

What frustrates Nielsen
most is not being able to do
the things she could do’ be-
fore the accident.

“Tt can’t work. I can’t
run. I get tired when I read

~a' book and ‘thé néxt night I

can’t remember what I just
read. My neighbour is two
and a half years old and I
can’t lift him up or else P'll
pull-my back.”

“Tt takes me a lot longer
to prepare meals and do
housework,” she adds.

Yvonne doesn’t let any of
her problems stop her, how-
ever. She is more active in
the. community than ever. ,

“Before my injury [ was:
shy. I’ve completely swung
over,” she said.

Nielsen has taken on the
role of advocate for people
with. brain. injuries. > She
spends countless hours at-
tending brain.injury confer-
ences to ‘learn then educate

_ others about brain injuries.

She writes articles, and pres- |

‘ents and distributes informa-

tion to community groups, .

“schools,
cians and other brain injury
survivors. She also attends

politi- ~

a support group to help new -

victims of brain injuries.
Her most recent project is,

‘to create an official voluntary.

identity card so people with
brain injuries have proof and

* can get disability benefits. -

“ “You can’t tell just by.

looking at me that I’ve got a
brain injury,’ ’ she says.
And she’s right, I can’t.

“Common problems
linked to damage:

Mental

= poor problem solving
Bkills

™@ poor memory »
a low attention span ©
m slowed thinking

. m difficulty planning and

setting goals

Social

u self-control problems
a low sexual drive

m- lack of initiation

= impulse buying

_ @ aggression

s inappropriate speech.
= difficulty making and
keeping friends’.

@ poor judgement

m problems understanding
others

Physical:

fatigue
‘headaches

poor balance
vision problems

_ problems speaking —
clearly .

physical disabilities such
as problems with walk- -
ing, sitting, ¢ etc.

Emotional

@ personality changes

# bursts of emotion

m shifting emotions ---
mw lack of emotion

a increased anxiety

‘m problems controlling

temper

The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, June 7, 2006 - A5
a
CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE TERRACE STANDARD

The Mail Bag

Watch out in Alberta
Dear Sir:

I’m writing to inform all the young men and gals that
have gone to Alberta to work. My son does seasonal work
in the oil fields there. He has no permanent Alberta ad-
’ dress as he lives in camps/motels in both B.C. and Al-
berta. He comes back to Terrace periodically during the
year on down time and works at a local fishing lodge. He

enough. He isn’t eligible for “Ralphie Bucks”

He purchased.a new vehicle here in Terrace in October
and it was totalled 47 days after owning it. There were
no drugs/alcohol involved in the accident it was ano fault

work for a while.
He is now told by [CBC that he wasn’t insured prop-
erly. He bought the insurance here in Terrace to return
back to Alberta to see if he had work in the oil fields-for
the winter months. He was in Alberta exactly. 36 days
when the accident happened. -
The problem was that a person has to change i insurance
within 60 days of moving to another province. My son
was under that limit. He moved in and out of work camps

Alberta. And because:he could not prove he wasn’t-in Al-

Alberta for over that length of time. So he was considered
‘not insured properly. He now has to pay ICBC thousands
of dollars and doesn’t get paid for loss of wage 0 or medical
‘to fix his face. ”

ing is the policy you need. And that’s particularly the case
’ for people doing, seasonal work who travel back and forth
- from other provinces.

| hope | you lose a foot

Dear Sir:
which one you are, so I will make a blanket thanks to

someone came and took my red lawn mower. I am’ grate-

* ful to them for releasing me of my latest burden: ' |, -
' While I have been busy working my butt off for basic
survival, I just couldn’t, for the life of me, figure out when

ning, and get the grass cut.

of equipment. So T do thank you for making my choices
for me. My only hope is that it now resides beside: the

ho

ing better than a family reunion.
rat will bring something in exchange for, rather than just

fall down?” .

damn thing cuts your foot off. ‘Or if it’s being sold for drug
money, I hope its the best and last high you ever have.
I only wish the best for you. You deserve it.

- om nee
sour oy

Medical centre needed

Dear Sir:

have specialists in all fields supported by those experi-
enced to minister to the sick and infirm, together with the
most up-to-date supplies and the latest equipment.
Terrace is centrally located, built on well drained, flat
gravel.with master sewer and water services. People come
to Terrace from all over the surrounding area by. public

personnel adjacent.

would cost millions. Our future!

oy

The best place i in the world

Dear Sir:

‘in Rosswood, B.C. north of Terrace that read “Boil this
water” before use. This is ridiculous. People have been

of huge rocks (obviously a spring), about 200 metres from

find anywhere.

should maybe-boil the water that comes out of their taps
in case the chlorine and. whatever else might. give them
problems. °
Also, what about the fruit, meat and vegetables that we

buy from the grocery stores? The workers who harvest

~ the crops in the Fraser Valley have to wear gloves so their
‘hands don’t burn up. Most of these people are immigrants

jobs. Maybe similar to the Latins in other countries? ©

_air-and no threat'of mad cow disease. .However,: due to
. government regulations we cannot sell a ‘healthy turkey or
chicken to our neighbours. It’s a bit ridiculous.
_ [have taught some university and secondary school in
Mazatlan, Mexico and have gone to the market where flies

to persuade them that hurting people in some other coun-
tries is not necessarily the road of success.

Also, you Green party people. Perhaps you could take
down your ugly signs from the last election! They look
worse than the billions of trees we can’t cut down.

in my opinion we are probably still living in one the best
places in the world.

About the Mail Bag |

The Terrace Standard welcomes letters.'Our address

"fax us at 250-638-8432 or e-mail us at newsroom@
terracestandard.com. No attachments, please. Name,

address and phone number required for verification.

in B.C, as well as Alberta. But his paycheques ¢ came from’

each and everyone of you. Sometime on a recent Monday,”

or how I was going to find the time get the dam thing run-

Terrace isa natural hub for a medical centre. We could

can’t claim income tax in Alberta since he isn’t there long -

_ accident. He received severe facial injuries and was off —

_berta for under 60 days, ICBC regarded him as being in

My warning is that people buying insurance should ask.
a lot of questions to make sure the insurance-you are buy-.

Now, I can get that job off my mind; due to 'the lack,

chiminea that you stole from me last year. There i is noth- .
These thieves are lower than.a pack rat. At least a pack "
taking. And what’s that old saying “only worms can’t me |

So in closing, thanks’ again, -and I can only hope the.

Sharlene Lindstrom, Terrace, B.C.

and private transport. We have ambulance, fire, and police ~
The centre could be architecturally: designed like the

‘spokes of a wheel — no stairs or elevators and lots of win- -
dows (fresh air, landscaping — good therapy). The above

Recently I saw a notice, ‘on the ‘tackboard at Dry Creek :

drinking this water for many years. The water comes out -
the highway. No matter how cold it gets in winter it nev- |
_ er freezes and in rainy seasons it never shows a trace of
murkiness. It is probably one of the purest waters you will:

The government people that put the the “poil” sign

because most respectable Canadian citizens won’tdo these

The people who live in this “remote” area enjoy pure |

are all over the meat, fish, fruit and vegetables. Ts the mor-..

tality rate higher there? What would our government do. |

about this? If the government employees in this country’.

want to do. something positive, perhaps they should try. to -
- communicate with some of our leaders i in North America

However, a lot of what I have written is negative but —

~ Allan. Cameron Sr., Rosswood, B. C.

is 3210 Clinton St., Terrace, B.C. V8G 5R2. You.can

_ Cathy Wiebe, Terrace, B. Co “

I really want to thank all the thieves in town. Not sure a

; os Gerald Duffus, Terrace, B.C. ——