Bowling for Brain Injury℠

Bowling for Brain Injury

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Bowling for Brain Injury℠ is the signature fundraising and awareness event for the Brain Injury Association of America and its affiliates. Money raised through Bowling for Brain Injury℠ stays in the state where the event is held and is used to assist those living with brain injury, their families, caregivers, and the professionals who work with them.

Upcoming Events

Bowling for Brain Injury – Missouri – Click here to register.

June 12, 2022 – Kansas City
June 18, 2022 – St. Louis
June 18, 2022 – Springfield
June 1 to June 30, 2022 – Virtual Bowling

"So September 17, 2017, was a day that I will never forget. They shot Michael in the left side of his head."

Before reaching out to her local brain injury association and finding an ABI support group, Melissa had nowhere to turn for advice.

“Suddenly memories from the day before seemed like they were decades ago,” says Melissa Shuman, who has come to live with the reality of brain injury after her son, Justin, sustained an acquired brain injury (ABI) following an attempt at suicide.

Recollecting on the first few days of her son’s fight to live, Melissa made it clear she felt like she was fighting just as hard.

“I had been rushing to find out all of this information on my own while he was in a coma. It was exhausting, but who else was going to do it? That’s a mother’s job.” In addition to learning information, Melissa became Justin’s primary caretaker. She spent her days coordinating nursing, therapies, feeding, bathing, and everything else in the living room of their home. “I think I scared myself more than anything, and the doctors didn’t have too much hope, so after a while I had to stop and just believe he would get better, and advocate for what would be best for him.”

In the first several months following Justin’s injury, the Shuman family experienced a great deal of change. They did have health insurance, but had difficulty getting many of the services Justin needed covered without a battle. Like so many others in similar positions, Melissa became an expert in fighting with her insurance company and with the agencies providing services to her son. Justin was not a candidate for inpatient rehabilitation because his medical needs required he be sent to Long-term Acute Care (LTAC), which is essentially a step-down from a hospital’s Intensive Care Unit. Instead, Melissa demanded Justin come home, and spent weeks preparing and retrofitting the living room of their home to ensure his ability to live there.

“Bringing Justin home was not an easy quest, and I had no idea where to seek insight on what, how, and when to make the transition,” Melissa explained.

Melissa is enormously appreciative of the online brain injury support group to which she belongs. “It’s an A-B-I group,” she laughs, “Not TBI! TBIs are welcome, but we make sure everyone else is, too. That’s been good for me, to know I’m not alone, and Justin wasn’t alone, and even that my other children are not alone and that someone can relate to what we are going through. A lot of people, actually, relate to what we go through.”

Read Personal Stories

Jane and her husband, Tim, both sustained brain injuries at different points in their lives. They live with the residual effects every day.

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