The COVID-19 Wildcard – Anoxic Brain Injury

𝘉𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘪𝘯 2014, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘐𝘯𝘫𝘶𝘳𝘺 𝘈𝘴𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘕𝘦𝘸 𝘏𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘏𝘌𝘈𝘋𝘞𝘈𝘠, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘥𝘪𝘤 𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘻𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. 𝘐'𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘏𝘌𝘈𝘋𝘞𝘈𝘠 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦.

𝘐 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘱 𝘮𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘭𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘩’𝘴 𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘶𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘏𝘌𝘈𝘋𝘞𝘈𝘠. 𝘈𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘕𝘦𝘸 𝘏𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘦, 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰𝘥𝘢𝘺.

𝘈𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘰𝘰𝘯 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘤 𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘱 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘖𝘝𝘐𝘋-19 𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘨.

𝘉𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘧𝘦…

~𝘋𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘥

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𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗢𝗩𝗜𝗗-𝟭𝟵 𝗪𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗱 – 𝗔𝗻𝗼𝘅𝗶𝗰 𝗕𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗜𝗻𝗷𝘂𝗿𝘆

I still find it hard to believe that we have rounded the curve and are now in the second year of a global pandemic. Then again, maybe it’s not so hard to believe after all. I’m not the only one who feels like 2020 simply evaporated. Day-by-day, life remained essentially unchanged for Sarah and me. Our weekly grocery delivery was often the only contact we had with the outside world. Being in a high risk category with diabetes, I made the decision very early on not to take any risks.

As 2020 passed, an increasing number of trusted news outlets started to report on the long-term effects of COVID-19. Covid “long-haulers,” as they are now called, began to talk about symptoms that sounded all too familiar. I’ve heard the term “brain fog” more in the last six months than I had in the first decade of my life as a brain injury survivor. Long-haulers spoke of cognitive issues, slower processing times and a level of neuro-exhaustions that defied explanation.

For those of us within the brain injury community, these symptoms are commonplace challenges. But, for the first time, thousands of people, heretofore unfamiliar with brain injury challenges, were living with what sounded like typical symptoms of a brain injury.

In early March, I attended the Congressional Brain Injury Task Force meeting. Thanks to the pandemic, it was a virtual event this year. The topic of this year’s meeting was The Impact of COVID-19 on Persons with Brain Injury. I attended hoping to learn and to be able to share my new knowledge.

There were a couple of revelations that really came as no surprise. Science has now shown that Coronavirus is a neurotoxin capable of crossing the blood-brain barrier. Simply put, this meant that what has been often called a respiratory illness is now proven to have a neurological component. COVID-19 starves the brain of oxygen. Taking this one logical step further, a brain injury caused by oxygen deprivation is called an anoxic brain injury. Commonly caused by opiate overdoses and drowning, we can now add COVID-19 to the list of brain injury causes.

So what does this mean? Many years ago, when I was a new member of the Brain Injury Association Board of Directors, it was discussed in a meeting that it took the average person five years to reach out to the BIANH for help. Folks tried to go it alone for as long as possible until a desperation point was reached, one where help was needed.

As we move through 2021, and vaccine distribution ramps up, we’ll continue to see the rates decline. There has been talk about life looking a little more like it used to as the year progresses, but there is a COVID-19 wildcard that most people haven’t given a lot of thought to. As time continues to pass, tens of thousands of people, if not more, will begin to realize that the long-term effects of anoxic brain injury are not simply going to go away.

The big question is this: Are we, as stewards of care, compassion, and concern for those impacted by brain injury, ready for what may be the biggest onslaught of people needing help?

As a society, we will be dealing with the effects of the pandemic for years to come – and for many others, the effects will be lifelong. I just hope we are ready for what’s coming.

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𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘐𝘯𝘫𝘶𝘳𝘺 𝘈𝘴𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘕𝘦𝘸 𝘏𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘵: 𝘸𝘸𝘸.𝘣𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘩.𝘰𝘳𝘨