On this week’s episode of Mind Matters, host Kiley Como, Legal Nurse Consultant at Shane Smith Law, sat down with Tiffani Netter, a resilient mother and survivor of traumatic brain injury (TBI), to discuss the accident that changed her life—and how she’s forging a path forward.
“I Just Remember Waking Up Angry…”
Tiffani’s story begins with a violent car crash. A driver ran a red light and slammed into the passenger side of the car she and her husband were in. The impact was so severe it crushed the side of the vehicle and flung Tiffani’s head into the seatbelt adjuster. Though she was wearing her seatbelt, the blow to the back of her skull would ultimately mark the start of a long and painful recovery.
She doesn’t remember the crash itself—but she remembers the moments after. “I just remember waking up and being super angry,” she says. Her confusion was so intense she didn’t recognize her own husband. “I remembered the logo on his shirt before I remembered him.”
Though Tiffani lost consciousness several times at the scene, she was transported to the ER by ambulance. Shockingly, because she had no visible injuries and nothing was broken, she was discharged that day. But the true extent of her injuries—neurological, not orthopedic—would soon become impossible to ignore.
When the ER Misses the Injury
Once home, symptoms quickly spiraled. “I couldn’t talk. I was shaky, nauseous, and couldn’t walk straight. I lost memory. I couldn’t feel the right side of my body.” Her house had to be kept dark due to light sensitivity. Tiffani’s arm went into a sling after they discovered a shoulder separation—but her most profound injuries were hidden inside her brain.
An initial MRI showed no catastrophic injuries, and the ER ruled her stable. But as Kiley Como points out, emergency rooms are designed to address immediate and life-threatening issues. Brain injuries that don’t bleed or fracture are often missed in this setting.
That’s why Tiffani and her family pushed for advanced diagnostics—tools many patients never get access to.
DTI and VNG: The Tools That Finally Told the Truth
Eventually, Tiffani underwent two tests that finally revealed the full scope of her traumatic brain injury: Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) and Video Nystagmography (VNG).
DTI revealed extensive white matter damage in both hemispheres of her brain—injuries that won’t heal. “75% of my white matter is damaged,” she shares. “My brainstem is damaged too. This isn’t something that’s going to get better.”
VNG testing helped explain her severe balance problems, indicating damage to her vestibular system. That instability is now so profound she requires a large service dog trained to alert, protect, and assist her before and during sudden dizzy spells or seizures.
The Diagnosis: Hard to Hear, Harder to Live With
Tiffani’s cognitive testing painted a sobering picture: her brain function ranked in the bottom 1% for attention, memory, processing speed, executive function, and coordination.
But she’s not giving up.
Every day, Tiffani fights to retrain her brain through neurocognitive therapy. She is rebuilding speech, fine motor skills, and emotional regulation from the ground up. “You can’t give up the fight just to be ‘normal,’” she says. “You have to fight for your new normal.”
Advocating for Yourself When Doctors Won’t
Perhaps the most powerful message Tiffani shares is the importance of self-advocacy.
Too often, she was dismissed. “I had neurologists say, ‘Why do you think it’s seizures?’” But she knew something was wrong and pushed for answers. “I recommend that everyone get a DTI. You need to know how bad it is, especially if you’re not being taken seriously.”
Behind Her Every Step: Family, Faith, and Fierce Support
Tiffani credits her ability to keep moving forward to her unwavering support system: her husband, her father-in-law, her sister-in-law, and even her 7-year-old daughter, who tutors her in math daily.
“There are days I still can’t talk. Days I can’t walk right. But my daughter will say, ‘Mom, you’ve got a cut on your right side,’ because I can’t feel it. I know it’s okay to not be okay, because I’m not alone.”
Final Thoughts
Tiffani’s message for other survivors is simple but profound:
- Advocate for yourself.
- Do the cognitive rehab.
- Accept your new normal.
- Build a support system.
- And never stop fighting.
If you or someone you love is suffering from a traumatic brain injury, know that you are not alone. There is help. There is hope. And there are people who care.
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