Homepage - The Phoenix Fund

The legend of the Phoenix has been told, re-told and revered by the ancient Greeks, Persians, Romans, Egyptians, Chinese, Japanese, Russians, and Phoenicians for thousands of years. The Phoenix represents an enduring message of rebirth, resurrection, perseverance, and hope; the story transcends time, culture and religion through the ages. The Egyptians considered Bennu (the Phoenix), the soul of the Sun-God Ra, and was sometimes called "He Who Came Into Being by Himself."

It is for these reasons that we chose the magnificent Phoenix as a representative symbol for modern-day Survivors of Brain Injury. Much like the mythical Phoenix, survivors of these devastating injuries are truly put on a path of coming into being themselves, of re-inventing themselves, of re-learning taken-for-granted everyday tasks, of re-discovering their abilities, of rebirth.

Can you imagine an injury that alters your ability to think, to reason, to comprehend? Imagine an injury that cuts communication, not only with others, but with your own body; control of your limbs, your ability to speak, your ability to react to life's everyday challenges. Imagine having to concentrate on forming the sound of a single letter, taking a single step, moving a single muscle. Imagine having a time-limit on your brain's capacity. Imagine not being able to follow a three-step task, struggling to remember the steps of getting dressed in the morning, being unable to plan for tonight's meal, or how to take out the trash. Brain injury damages the most precious of all things; your individuality, your personality, your "self", who you are. These are all things we take for granted, yet these are the very challenges that the Phoenix must overcome every day for the remainder of their lives.

There is no cure, no bones to mend, no drugs to make you well, no treatments to make you "who you used to be". Recovery is as much a matter of adjustment to the injury as it is of recovery from the injury. Such is the life of the modern-day Phoenix. Unlike the age-old legends, the rise of the today's Phoenix from the ashes is not a myth. We hope you'll become aware of today's over-population of BI survivors and help us support their amazing battle to regain their own lives.

a family-run charitable organization whose primary missions are two to raise awareness of the life-altering affects of brain injury and to provide assistance to survivors and their families as they begin their long journey back in a foreign, new and suddenly unfriendly world.

a legendary bird which burns to ashes on a pyre, and rises from these ashes to regain its magnificence; also, a person or thing likened to the phoenix; for our purposes: a Survivor of Brain Injury.

Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) is "an injury to the brain which is not herediatry, congenital, or induced by birth trauma; it is any type of damage to the brain acquired after birth. ABIs are classified as either:

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is defined as "an alteration in brain function, or other evidence of brain pathology, caused by an external force", such as a blow or jolt to the head or a penetrating head injury that disrupts the function of the brain.
Non-traumatic Brain Injury is caused by either an internal or external source, such as stroke, brain tumors, infection, poisoning, hypoxia, ischemia, encephalopathy or substance abuse.

Brain injury is not an event or an outcome. It is the start of a misdiagnosed, misunderstood, under-funded neurological disease. Individuals who sustain brain injuries must have timely access to expert trauma care, specialized rehabilitation,lifelong disease management and individualized services and supports in order to live healthy, independent and satisfying lives.

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