Fall 2022 Adaptive Trip – Tim Fisher
Most of us associate firefighters with burn injuries, but in Tim Fisher’s case, he suffered a traumatic brain injury in an April 2020 car accident. “I woke up in the hospital with no memory of the accident. I was told my car was totaled, it rolled 20 yards or so, but thankfully stopped just short of going into water.”
Tim woke up unable to speak. His brain was functioning, and he was able to text and write, but thoughts were coming out jumbled. He could really only say “momma” and “dadda,” but was sent home from the hospital a day or so after waking up. COVID-19 had just started and there was a lot of uncertainty in hospitals.
“Due to COVID, nobody could come to the hospital anyway, but for the most part, all my treatment was done at home. My family rallied around and helped me out, but I had some dark days. I thought my life was over at some points.”
It took Tim four m
onths to get his speech back and less than a year to get back to work. You’d never know from speaking to Tim that he was unable to talk for four months. He speaks perfectly well, but he said his decision making has slowed down and he is not as sharp mentally as he was before.
“I lost something in my accident. I stopped doing things I loved to do like mountain biking and skydiving and just being active and in the outdoors. I wasn’t even sure if I should come to Adaptive, a lot of these guys have severe burns, and I did not feel my injuries could compare to these guys. But I could not have been more wrong.”
Tim has been roommates on the trip with Daniel Lyon and he considers them “boys for life.” He said “being with these men, I can build my confidence back and achieve things. For instance, rock climbing. It scared me, but these guys are going up without all their fingers. I started making the first hand and foot holds and thought I can do this. I was holding myself back.”
The Orange County, CA resident hasn’t let his injury hold him back anymore. Tim challenged himself to get his Masters’ degree (for which he is currently studying) in organizational leadership. He also started a podcast – the Let’s Go Podcast – which is in the top 3 percent of listeners globally!
His podcast is about celebrating the average human. “You don’t need to be inspired by celebrities or famous people. Real people have real stories to tell about perseverance. You can let things defeat you or grit your teeth and get through this. The journey up the mountain is tough, but the views from those peaks are amazing.”