Author, Speaker & Advocate

www.tbibook.com is a new webpage for survivors of TBI and their loved ones.

The site is easy to navigate, clearly organized into topics including The Story, Articles and Videos.

The Story relates the struggle of 16 year old Bart Goldstein to regain a life after he suffered TBI in an auto accident in 2001.  His journey is told by his father Joel in the memoir, No Stone Unturned, Potomac Books, 2012.

The Goldstein’s shared their story in order to raise awareness of ‘the invisible disability,’  They also wish to send a message of hope to survivors and families – that more complete recoveries  are possible through use of safe, inexpensive alternative and unconventional therapies.   Bart’s injury was severe – after eight months the rehab hospital and school district agreed that he was not suitable for placement back in a classroom, and would be better served in a convalescent home.

The Goldstein’s resisted warehousing their son, winning him a chance to heal and make progress.  They came up with a method for assuring the safety of alternative and unconventional therapies.   Eventually they tried several that helped Bart recover far more fully than predicted by experts.   Today Bart is a lively charming young man living nearly independently in his own flat, with a part-time job, new friends, and is moving forward with his life.   He still struggles with deficits of short- term memory, fine motor control, and field of vision.

The therapies that worked for Bart include hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT), Craniosachral therapy (CST), Boyles Sensory Learning therapy, Novavison’s Vision Restoration Therapy(VRT), and supplementation as suggested in Dr. David Perlmutter’s book BrainRecovery.com. Of course no therapy is 100% safe and effective, not even aspirin.

No cheerleaders for specific therapies, the Goldsteins are more advocates of a persistent search for alternatives.   They are currently looking at Neurofeedback, and promise to post results when available.  They believe that for survivors of severe TBI, unconventional therapies are not merely a reasonable option, they are a necessity.   Best practices of conventional medicine only take us so far, often ending at the nursing home door or, heavily medicated at home, facing long empty hours, and overwhelming families.

No Stone Unturned is more than a narrative of a search for new therapies, but also explores the human toll TBI takes on survivors and every member of the family.  It’s filled with humor, and tips on how to wage a hard fight.  The website includes an extended excerpt from the book.

The Articles section includes short pieces written for Exceptional Parent magazine and Brainline.org (both are very useful resources). The method for vetting alternative therapies is summarized succinctly in the Brainline.org article: Fighting the TBI Wars: New Alternatives for TBI Survivors.

            The Videos tab includes a couple of YouTube videos in which Goldstein describes the family’s struggle.  These are easy to follow, not very technical.  Some visitors to the site may wish to share a video with friends, relatives and coworkers, to help them understand the journey that TBI survivors and their families go through. 

Each section of www.tbibook.com gives visitors a chance to comment, and many have done so.  Goldstein responds to each, and enjoys hearing and learning from members of what he calls ‘the wider fellowship of TBI.’