My story is one of repeated physical and emotional/psychological trauma, over the span of my 41 years. I was born into a very poor, and dysfunctional family. My parents had a dysfunctional marriage. By the time I was 2 yrs, my birth father and mother were estranged. My mother worked full time to support my brother and I. By this time she (mom) had begun dating the man who would later marry my mother and adopt me and my brother, also the man who I consider my father. One day, my mom, brother, and I were walking home from the market. Mom was pushing me in a shopping cart along with the groceries. When we arrived at our house, there stood my birth father, who we had not seen in almost a year. He was in a fit of rage that my mother had changed the locks on the door. They began to argue. He struck my mother to the ground in.front of my brother, and I. My mother yelled for my brother to run down the street and get the neighbor. He did as she asked, and the neighbors wife grabbed me and took me to her home, while her husband handled the situation with my birth father. I have no idea what happened between the neighbor and my birth father. I never saw my birth father again from that day. This was my introduction to violence, and emotional trauma. Shortly after that, my mom married my stepdad. He was good to us. We loved him like a real father. times were mostly good. My next experience with violence would also be my first concussion/tbi. One day while playing with some neighborhood kids, a fight broke out between 2 groups of kids. One group of kids began throwing rocks and pieces of metal at us. I was hit hit in the head with a rock hard enough to split the skin, and cause a concussion. From that point on it was head injury, after head injury for me. There were playground incidents that were pure accidents. There were bicycle accidents. There were bullies who sit on top of me and pound my head. My brother once slammed my head on the cement floor in the garage, etc... By the time I was in middle school, I was a regular at the E.R. I played football in middle school, where again I received another concussion. From High school to about 30 years of age, I was involved in 3 major auto accidents where I received head injuries. During my 20's I was involved in a very abusive, and turbulent marriage that caused great stress, and trauma in my life. All of this contributing to my PTSD, but the physical and emotional trauma I received when I was 31 years old and a violent assailant attacked me, (in a drunken rage) with what can only be described as a club. That was the one that did the most damage. My assailant waited for me in the dark. He snuck up on me in the dark and blasted me in my head multiple times, before I could process what was happening. A neighbor saw what was happening and screamed his name, while running over to stop the violence. It was when I heard my neighbor scream my assailant's name, that I knew not only what was happening, but that I was in a fight for my life. Thanks the the neighbor's willingness to get involved, and my own will to survive, we were able to subdue my attacker, until police arrived. It's been ten years since that incident, and I have rarely been able to hold a job. I had no Idea what PTSD was until a few years ago. Due to the fact that I have no job, I live with family, and have no medical treatment. I am in the process of filing for disability benefits, and am coming to terms with the fact that I will likely be poor, and unable to work for the rest of my life. ...and that's where I'm at today.
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