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As an occupational therapist's standpoint, riding a bus is
important because it's an everyday thing.
And you don't think about it until you take someone's
independence or transportation away from them.
It was when I was in the car that the aneurysm burst.
And I left the car, they determined, on the sixth roll,
going 60 miles an hour.
Hey, you break your arm, you put a cast on it.
It gets better.
You break your brain, it doesn't
necessarily not get better.
But it doesn't go back to being the
way that it was before.
I wanted to do something with my life.
I'll never drive again.
I kept thinking, if I had the ability to climb on a bus.
How are you today?
Good, how are you?
I'm doing pretty well.
I could come and go wherever I pleased, whenever I pleased.
My supervisor, Kelly, told me that Nicky has always wanted
to learn to take the bus and to become more independent,
and not have her husband drop her off.
So I jumped at that opportunity.
She was able to pick up the bus route very easily, and I
knew instantly that she was capable of doing this, and
that we just had to work over the safety aspect.
She has what she calls kaleidoscope vision.
In looking at you, at anyone, at anything, I
see four, not one.
So if you think about someone looking at a bus schedule and
someone taking those steps through cobblestones in
Portsmouth, she's had to overcome
knowing where to step.
And when she sees a step, it's spinning quadruple spins
constantly.
It's taken quite a while to get used to.
Morning to you all.
Hello, hello, hello.
If I'm not at Kremples, I have been at home,
alone, doing nothing.
Good morning to Jim.
Hey, Jim.
I know that I can come here and not have
judgment from others.
People here are either administrators who know,
they're interns who are learning, or they're members
who have experienced it themselves.
You learn throughout school how everyone's different, but
coming here and seeing everyone in different physical
states and mental states, and you really learn all about the
uniqueness of brain injury.
Also the importance of community is great here.
Probably one of the most important experiences for
college, for me, definitely.
It's a great feeling.
She tells me all the time how thankful she is.
And it's great, as my professional standpoint, but
also as a personal standpoint that I've made a difference in
her life and gave her that independence.
The day that I did it alone for the first time.
That day, it was as through Kristen had planned it.
She didn't.
Everything that could go wrong, went wrong.
It was just cacophony.
But I did it.
And it was because she took the time to go through all of
those extra things.
So for that, I'm very grateful.
And I have a lot of respect for her.
She might be a kid, but she's a good kid.