Yesterday I attended a board meeting for the Brain Injury Association of Arizona as a prospective board member. The meeting lasted for nearly 2 hours and at the end of the meeting I was asked to stay back and talk to the Director. The Director who is a very kind and gentle person told me that she had something that she needed to bring up to me and discuss. I come to find out that the reporter who did an article about my story had called her because he received a letter from a someone who wrote derogatory things about me and said that I was faking my injury to get out of pending lawsuits and he felt the need to contact this director to ask her for her opinion on whether or not she felt that she knew me enough to know if I was faking this injury. Long story short, the director of this association had informed him that my intentions were genuine and that in no way did she feel that I was faking or trying to gain something by this injury.
On the ride home after this meeting I suddenly started to feel embarrassed and confused as to why somebody would feel this way about me enough to write a reporter who did a story about me and my family and humiliate us in the way. Now the hard part, I had to tell my wife what had happened after the board meeting and watch the reaction of pain and amazement that covered her face. Not only was this person attacking me but they were also attacking my wife and children. Joan and I talked about who this could be and Joan knew exactly who this was.
I am starting to realize that not everyone is going o be sympathetic to my injury and condition and that some people are going to do whatever they feel to try and hurt you more than you already are. All I can say is that I did not ask to fall and I certainly did not ask to have a traumatic brain injury resulting in retrograde amnesia. For anyone to think that this is some kind of free ride I am taking, my response to them is I have not earned an income in over 10 months and my family has suffered both financially and emotionally over this accident. Being involved in a lawsuit in aviation is not a matter of if you are going to be sued it is a matter of when. My inability to recall memories is only hurting my case in my lawsuit and in no way has it helped me or benefited me financially. I guess I better get used to the idea that there will always be people out there who will try to hurt you and put you down when you are going through a rough time in your life. Joan stated it best that “She is thankful that I do not remember this evil person that somehow entered our lives”. I can only hope that this person can somehow find happiness inside of their miserable existence.