Ragland Family Raises Awareness About Traumatic Brain Injury

Over 10,000 Alabamians suffer a traumatic brain injury every year and of those, 2,300 are serious enough to require a hospital stay. “No two traumatic brain injuries are the same,” said J. Scott Powell, Executive Director of Alabama Head Injury Foundation. “For some, it may be immediately recognized by others and yet for others, it exists as an invisible injury, often leading to misunderstanding by others and added challenges faced by the survivor.” Wanda Canada of Ragland has learned many things about traumatic brain injury, or TBI, while raising her 15-year-old grandson Hunter Kay. “He is the sweetest boy you would ever meet,” Canada said. “But I want people to know that just because Hunter looks like a normal little boy, he’s not.” In 2004, Hunter was severely injured in a car accident that killed his parents, Summer and John. Hunter suffered broken bones, injured organs and burns on his face, but his most severe wound was right frontal lobe brain damage. “Initially he was just so out of control,” Canada remembered. “You couldn’t take him anywhere, you couldn’t do anything because his little mind was going every which way.” Canada has devoted herself to helping her grandson, but said his challenges can make school a lonely place. He attends Odenville Middle School where she said he goes to both special needs and regular classes, but academically still preforms at a second grade level.