When my son Neil was 17, he was hit by a drunk driver in a crash that killed his girlfriend and left him with a serious traumatic brain injury. Neil spent days in the intensive care unit, months in physical therapy, and years in counseling dealing with his depression, anxiety, and loss. During that time, well-meaning friends and family members routinely told us, “Things happen for a reason.” I bristled. What possible reason could there be for my sweet boy to endure this much suffering?

Throughout Neil’s ordeal, I kept a journal. On the page I processed my disenfranchised grief as the “other mother” whose child did not die in the accident. I managed my deep sorrow for everything Neil had lost. And I coped with my anger at the drunk driver who caused this misery. Eventually I wrote a memoir about it all. I became an ambassador for the Brain Injury........

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