TBI- I had no idea. Never heard of it. Just living our happy family life, Mom, Dad, Big Brother, little sister & our last baby Levi.
Levi was born full term, healthy & beautiful on May, 22 2006.
4 short months later, almost to the day. Our world collapsed around us. September 26, 2006. A day seared in our minds. 
We were passengers in a car on the way back from DFW. We were on the highway and decide to make a change of plans and make a u turn and go back into town. 
That is the one seemingly simple decision that haunts me everyday & I will spend my life trying to correct.
There was a semi parked in the median, turn lane. The driver of our car, who happened to be my lifelong best friend & sister, peeked around the semi and made the turn. 
From here on out I have zero memory but just what I have been told and read in accident reports. When she pulled out into the right hand lane a truck traveling at 75+ mph switched over to our line and struck the small car we were in, directly in Levi's door. He was a tiny 4 months old & around 11 pounds.
My husband was in the front seat with broken bones and collapsed lungs but the only on conscious. He says he remembers calling out each of our names but just eerie dead silence.

Emergency responders arrived and care flight was dispatched for all 5 of us in the car. By the time they were able to resuscitate Levi he had been without oxygen to his tiny brain for approximately 20 minutes.
He was care flighted to cook children's hospital in Fort Worth 

His dad & I were in separate hospitals. I had a ruptured spleen, broken pelvis & a moderate head injury. The next days are blank in my head. I was in recovery in Jps hospital. I have a slight recollection of someone telling me they wanted to consider removing his life support. They thought he wouldn't make it & would be brain dead. I hate that term. The doctor came and talked to my dad. The doctor with tears in his eyes asked my dad if he could stay that night with Levi and tearfully the doctor said, "no child deserves to die alone" 

I had staples all up my stomach from emergency surgery & I have a picture in my head of the doctor popping the staples out of my stomach because I said I was discharging myself to be with my baby.

I remember the doctor saying I understand, I would do the same thing.

I wasn't able to walk because my pelvis was crushed and I just had major sx, so they rolled me over on a gurney to the adjoining children's hospital.
I had family help me into Levi's bed in ICU where i slept with him, directly across from the nurses station. A big glass room so they always had eyes on him. 

Unfortunately, but maybe also a blessing, once again I don't remember a lot after that. Just bits and pieces. 

Levi made it through the night & then another. Drs came and took him for MRI's of his brain, hearing tests, vision tests. 
I don't remember the words but I do remember where I was when they told me Levi would be blind forever. 

My perfectly healthy baby just 24 hours earlier, in the blink of an eye had went from smiling & having his first taste of baby food to a list of diagnosis I had never even heard. 
He was blind, a cortical vision impairment. Meaning his eyes were fine but his little brain was so damaged and deprived of oxygen it wouldn't be able to even make out what he was looking at. Cerebral Palsy, extreme global delays, Hydrocephalus, fluid on his brain from the swelling and lack of oxygen. When your brain goes without oxygen it literally dies off and is replaced by fluid. Epilepsy was now a frightening reality for us. I've never known anyone with epilepsy and to suddenly see your tiny 4 month old baby seizing is THE most helpless feeling in this world. 

After 2 weeks in ICU we were sent home, Levi had fought through and made it. He's a fighter. That is just the beginning of our journey with this unthinkable thing called Traumatic Brain Injury. 

Levi is now 7. He is blind. He is learning to talk but most 1.5 year olds already surpass his vocabulary sadly. He understands a lot more than he can say, but he doesn't understand even close to everything. Danger is always very very real. It is much like having a newborn that has the ability to walk out the front door and into the street. But he can't see the cars, nor does he know they can hurt him. He is learning some self help skills like closing the doors and getting in his own chair. 

Levi is uninsured. He is disabled, yes. They approved him as disabled, yes. But once a child's parents income surpasses a very small amount that is set forth, the disabled child's insurance is taken away.

What is refered to as a waiver or more commonly a Katy Beckett waiver can be used. This waives the parents income provided that the child is in medical need. They must meet the medical criteria set forth. Each state funds with the help of the government the waivers and each state decides what waiver they they will have. 26 states have TBI waivers. Texas is not one of them.

Levi & TBI do not meet the strict criteria for a medically fragile child. Therefor, as I mentioned, Levi is uninsured. He has been denied access to all waivers at this time. TBI is a very serious medical condition. It affects your brain, which in turn affects every part of your body. 

PLEASE HELP US HELP LEVI AND OTHER TBI SURVIVORS IN TEXAS AND SUPPORT A TBI WAIVER

THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF OUR HEARTS FOR SIGNING.