As a teenager growing up in California, Mike loved to rock climb and mountain bike. But one day when he was 19 and sleeping in the passenger seat of a car driven by his friend, Mike endured an accident that would change the rest of his life. While his friend walked away unharmed, Mike suffered a traumatic brain injury that permanently impaired both his long- and short-term memory. Today Mike shows an amazing capacity for warmth and forgiveness toward this friend who never spoke to him again following the accident. “I wish I could talk to him,” Mike says slowly and deliberately, “and say, hey, I’m OK.”

For the past fifteen years, Mike has been living successfully and independently in ShelterCare’s programs for adults with acquired brain injury: the Uhlhorn program and River Kourt Apartments. Prior to that time, he was a client of ShelterCare’s Brethren Housing Program when staff member Wally Earl invited him to be one of the first residents of Uhlhorn. After eight years, Mike “graduated” to the newly created River Kourt Apartments, a program enabling adults with brain injury to live with greater independence. Mike enjoys the close proximity of River Kourt to everything he needs: the bank, the pharmacy, the grocery store, even his barber.

Mike has developed many creative ways to live independently despite his long- and short-term memory impairment. He carries a calendar filled with upcoming appointments and a record of the medications he has taken. Although Mike experiences difficulty when trying to remember his life before the present moment, he says past events begin to come back to him when others talk about them.

Mike’s creative talents and love for art are clearly apparent in the beautiful pencil drawings of nature scenes that fill his apartment. A few years ago his work was featured in an art show at Allan Brothers, and just recently one of his drawings was used as the cover of invitations for a ShelterCare event. Mike has also made several of his pieces into notecards that he hopes to sell. Unfortunately, a recent worsening of memory problems has made it more difficult for Mike to hold pictures in his mind while he draws. When he is not engrossed in his artwork, Mike enjoys riding his recumbent bike, visiting his favorite bagel shop downtown, and spending time with his girlfriend, who also lives at River Kourt. He feels sad that because she acquired her brain injury at age six, she never got to experience as much of life without a disability as he did. Thanks to the support of ShelterCare, Mike feels he has a good life.