Spring Break
Trauma victim speaks on behalf of veterans
Heather Holm/Activities Editor
Issue date: 3/6/09 Section: News
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"A part of me died that day," Mulholland said. "There was a ghost inside of me."
Mulholland suffers from symptoms such as balance problems and no sense of hunger or thirst.
He would recall that he would sometimes have two or three lunches in one day and other days not eat for three days and neither affected him.
He also has nominal and broca's region aphasia, which means he has trouble with speaking and fluency.
"This is controlled by emotion," he said. "I couldn't look at my mother and say the word mother. My 3 to 4 year old son was speaking more fluently than I was."
However, traumatic brain injury affects more than just car accident victims.
Mulholland said traumatic brain injury is a signature injury of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Mulholland spoke at the meeting last night for veterans with traumatic brain injuries.
In a USA Today article, which Mulholland brought in, said that 360,000 veterans suffer from traumatic brain injuries.
"These people are on the tip of the iceberg though, and floating around in war, so not many people know about these cases," Mulholland said.
Mulholland is the founder and president of a program to get a rehabilitation center called the Community Neuro Rehabilitation, Inc. in Westminster West, Vt.
"The partners are already seeing it," he said. "We need common sites, so we are dealing with Congress. It is a challenge to have funds because of the recession, but Obama seems to have a willingness to finance many areas all at once and I think we will see funding within the next year."
He wants to create the center as a non-profit organization created to serve veterans with traumatic brain injury.
He is also part of the Northface Neurocare Network and is in the process of securing partnership grants for the center, while working with a number of parties in Europe.
"In order to treat brain injury, you need staff and treatment," Mulholland said. "That's not going to happen (without these centers)."
Mulholland read off some statistics during the meeting.
He said there are 5.4 million traumatic brain injury survivors, meaning one in six Americans today. Most cases are from blast incidents.
Mulholland said only 15 percent of traumatic brain injury cases need long-term care and about 85 percent will evolve over time.
"That doesn't mean they don't need help getting better," Mulholland said.
He went on to say the cases that can be cured over time are the worst cases because the veterans are given hope but do not have the facilities.
These people have a higher rate for suicide.
Mulholland wants to explore setting up a center next to Sarah Bush Lincoln Health System in Mattoon.
"Every place in America can send its support for veterans with this disease," Mulholland said. "The scale of what can be done is connected to resources, and I think there are enough resources here to seriously consider a site."
Paul Reid, a senior business management major, helped organize the event. He is also a veteran of the Iraqi war.
He does not suffer from traumatic brain injury, but he does suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
"I feel like I left (the war) as a different person, and the sad thing is that I acknowledge that and can't go back to the other person," Reid said. "People don't have a sign they have a war injury and I think it goes deeper than that."
The meeting took place at 5 p.m. Thursday in the Martinsville room of the Martin Luther King Jr., University Union.
There will be another meeting at 6 p.m. today in the Charleston-Mattoon Room of the Union.
Heather Holm can be reached at 581-7942 or haholm@eiu.edu.
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