Dick Button on CNN

[Schmeck]

Just caught a bit of an interview with Mr. Button on CNN, and found a link to more on cnn.com:

www.cnn.com/2003/HEALTH/10/17/hln.bio.button/index.html

It's about his brain injury, his recovery, and his role as a spokesperson for a brain injury foundation.

I didn't realize how horrible his accident was, or that he doesn't remember the accident or the first month of hospitalization/rehab!

Schmeck

[Stevie]

Wow. I didn't know that. I had heard he hurt his ankle or something and that was why he wasn't at Nationals that one year. That must have been scary. I knew a little girl who fell over on her bike and had a brain injury. It was very serious also but she eventually fully recovered thank goodness.

[Nicki]

Thanks for the link. I had no idea that his injury was that seriosus.

I'm glad that his recovery has gone so well. I've really learned alot from his commentary over the years and skating just wouldn't be the same if he wasn't there.

[LTM]

As someone who works on a neuro unit with brain injured people it's
great to see a)Button make a good recovery -- some brain injured
people simply are never able to function independantly again and b)
become a spokesperson cause I suspect Button is right, many don't want to admit to having had a brain injury.

If I could just have a little rant though -- two little things could
go a long way to preventing many head injuries, seatbelts while driving and helmets while cycling, skiing, roller blading etc.
It's just not you who suffers. Just about one of the worst things in the world has got to be watching someone who's usually a lovely
person become comatose or violent, not knowing where or even who they
are, have to relearn skills like walking or talking etc simply because they had to feel the wind through their hair while skateboarding or didn't think they needed that seatbelt for "a short trip"
It isn't worth it, guys.

[victorskid]

AMEN to that LTM:!:

[Meg]

I remember that there wasn't a lot of media coverage about it - good for them for keeping this private - but I remember seeing him afterwards on tv and thinking how thin and gaunt looking he was. I even wondered if he perhaps was suffering from cancer or something similar.

It's good to finally have an explanation.

[viennese]

Another amen. I am heartened by Dick Button's recovery. I didn't know how serious his accident was.

Such injuries, and the recovery that follows, are harrowing for friends and family. You see someone close to you become a stranger. You don't know if they will return. A close friend, an expert equestrian, suffered a traumatic head injury when she was 19. No hardhat. She eventually recovered well enough to graduate college. She lost two years of her life, and she is not as she was before.

Aside from pairs or younger skaters in practice, skaters aren't likely to wear protective helmets--unless a new kind is developed.

But can we ask people we care about to wear them while riding horses, cycling, skiing, skateboarding, stuff like that? I would rather cope with hat-hair than rehabilitation anytime. Rant away, LTM!