The Virginian-Pilot had an excellent story recently about Beacon House, a Virginia Beach drop-in center for people who have suffered traumatic brain injuries (TBI).

The story, by reporter Elizabeth Simpson, took a close look at a handful of brain-injury victims, how the injury changed their lives, and how Beacon House helps them.

Beacon House, as Simpson put it, is “a place away from the homes of parents and relatives who care for them. Insurance, or the bounds of science, has run out on repairing their injuries – some too subtle to see. A few members work toward jobs; many can’t manage them or be left alone.”

Brain injuries can take some things and leave others. Larry Bain, 45, of Virginia Beach, was in a car accident in 1987. His girlfriend escaped with minor injuries, but Bain was left permanently altered.

Bain was hospitalized for three months, in a rehab hospital for a year, and in a residential rehabilitation facility – at $20,000 a year – for three more years.

Bain walks and speaks clearly, The Pilot said, but has some vision problems, poor memory and poor impulse control.

Bain said he was working at a store bagging groceries but was fired for shoplifting.

“I had the money,” Bain told the Pilot. “The thing in my brain that says, ‘Hey, go pay for that stuff’ wasn’t there.”

The Beacon House is at 3808 Virginia Beach Blvd., Suite C. The phone number is (757) 631-0222. For more information, e-mail abby@maryfoundation.org. 

Read more stories and learn more about brain injuries by 
visiting the interactive story provided by the Virginian Pilot