Health Watch: UVM researchers make strides in diagnosis, treatment of traumatic brain injuries
WCAX
Traumatic brain injuries often can’t be seen. Beneath the surface, survivors can struggle with mental health, cognitive function, and physical disabilities. Amy Kemp, a TBI survivor in St. Albans, says her injury causes symptoms that have made working and living independently nearly impossible. A team at the University of Vermont’s Larner College of Medicine is trying to fix that.
“She said, ‘I’m really sorry. You’re not gonna get any better,’” said Amy Kemp, recalling her conversation with doctors following a fall in 2019.
The accident had followed a recovery from several serious concussions from other falls during epileptic seizures and from a car crash. But after the 2019 fall at the library, she says doctors told her the traumatic brain injury would never heal.
“When you hit a softball as hard as you can hit it. When they throw it and you hit it as hard as you can hit it, that’s a sound her head made when she hit the floor,” said Kemp’s husband, Mark, who has become her de facto caretaker. He walks her up the stairs, brings her to the shower, drives her, and cooks every meal.