Irvan promoting brain injury awareness
By Tim Martin, The Associated Press
June 16, 2005
10:28 AM EDT (14:28 GMT)
BROOKLYN, Mich. (AP) -- Ernie Irvan' s life, for better and worse, has taken several twists at Michigan International Speedway.
His last NASCAR win came at Michigan in 1997. The victory sandwiched two devastating crashes on the two-mile oval that eventually forced him to retire in 1999.
So it's no coincidence Irvan chose the Michigan track as the promotional launching pad for his new focus, a nationwide effort to raise awareness about brain injury prevention.
"My whole life turned all kinds of different ways here," Irvan said while visiting the speedway recently. "My history at Michigan, my life being saved at Michigan ... it's my next step in life, my next thing to do. We feel we can make a difference."
Irvan, 46, started the Race2Safety Foundation last year. One of the group's first major fundraisers will be Aug. 17 at the Michigan track -- which hosts this Sunday's Nextel Cup race.
Irvan hopes to have up to 10,000 people pay at least $100 per person to walk around the speedway with him and active NASCAR drivers. Similar events will be added at other NASCAR sites next year.
Swervin' Ernie Irvan, a Californian with a home in North Carolina, was one of the Winston Cup circuit's most popular drivers in the early 1990s. He won 12 races from 1990 through 1994, highlighted by the 1991 Daytona 500.
But his career changed forever on Aug. 20, 1994, during a practice run at Michigan.
Irvan slammed into the wall on a turn and was knocked unconscious with a traumatic brain injury, skull fracture and chest injuries. One of the first people to reach the car was speedway doctor John Maino, whom Irvan credits with saving his life.
"It was only a matter of time before I was going to drown in my own blood," Irvan said, with Maino seated at his side in a Michigan Speedway suite.
Realizing that Irvan wasn't getting oxygen, Maino slit the driver's throat and inserted a tube to get him some air. Irvan was on a helicopter and headed to a hospital just 23 minutes after hitting the wall, a quick response that aided his eventual recovery.
Doctors initially gave him only a 10 percent chance of survival. But Irvan defied the odds and returned to racing in 1995. He won two races in 1996 and was first at Michigan in 1997, saying he had conquered the speedway that nearly conquered him.
But Irvan hit the wall again at Michigan in 1999 -- exactly five years to the day after his first traumatic accident -- and had another head injury. He retired soon afterward.
His wife, Kim, said he was like a cat with nine lives -- and had used up eight of them.
Michael Dabbs, president of the Brain Injury Association of Michigan, is thrilled by Irvan's choice of a new career.
"Ernie is willing to step forward and be a leader in this movement, and that is a tremendous benefit," Dabbs said. "We have got to raise awareness about this issue."
Doctors initially gave him only a 10 percent chance of survival. But Irvan defied the odds and returned to racing in 1995. He won two races in 1996 and was first at Michigan in 1997, saying he had conquered the speedway that nearly conquered him.
But Irvan hit the wall again at Michigan in 1999 -- exactly five years to the day after his first traumatic accident -- and had another head injury. He retired soon afterward.
His wife, Kim, said he was like a cat with nine lives -- and had used up eight of them.
Michael Dabbs, president of the Brain Injury Association of Michigan, is thrilled by Irvan's choice of a new career.
"Ernie is willing to step forward and be a leader in this movement, and that is a tremendous benefit," Dabbs said. "We have got to raise awareness about this issue."
Gary Busey Actor & Comedia, suffered a brain injury from a motorcycle accident.
No one knows better than Gary Busey that life's road takes unexpected turns. "I had a nearly fatal motorcycle accident on Dec. 4, 1988," says the actor and musician. "And almost no one expected me to recover."
But Busey was able to come back from the brink, and today he says he's compelled to spread his message of caution. "I want people to understand that life is very important. And that if you're riding a motorcycle, skateboard, or bicycle without a helmet, you're challenging the face of death."
Riding without a helmet is a gamble everyone is bound to lose, sooner or later, he says. "When the odds finally catch up with you, fate will steal your life and the hearts of everyone who loves you."
Busey had just picked up his bike at a repair shop when he slid on a patch of gravel at 40 mph, flipped over the handlebars, and hit his unprotected head on a curb.
"I landed at the feet of a police officer and was rushed to an emergency room with a hole in my head the size of a half dollar," he says.
Doctors subsequently told Busey that had he arrived even three minutes later, he would not have survived. As it was, Busey fell into a coma for over four weeks, while family and friends stood by his side.
"I remember being aware of only two things during that ordeal," says Busey. "The first was that I entered and returned from a spiritual realm, and that experience has been the foundation of my faith ever since. The second, and equally important experience was feeling the healing love and support of the people who surrounded me."
Busey regained consciousness on Jan. 6, 1989, and although heavily medicated, his will to live and recover surfaced almost immediately. And to the astonishment of the medical staff, Busey left the hospital under his own power only five weeks later.
After a period of recuperation and rehabilitation, Busey returned to his film career and has since worked continuously as an advocate for traumatic injury treatment and prevention.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/spotlight/2001-07-05-busey-brain-injury.htm
George Clooney Actor,recevied a brain injury while filming the movie Syriana.
George Clooney on the injury that threatened his career
19 February 2006
By John Millar
FILM heart-throb George Clooney is enjoying the best year of his career.
He's already won a clutch of awards, including a Golden Globe, for his performance in political thriller Syriana.
Tonight he's in the running for more glory at the Bafta awards in London and next month he's up for several Oscars.
But all of this has come with a painful price - and he has the scars to prove it.
Looking slim, fit and tanned George 44, pulls down the collar of his shirt to reveal a vivid scar.
He told me: "That starts from the top of my neck and goes all the way down to the base of my spine."
The scar is a legacy of an accident during the filming of Syriana in which George plays a CIA agent caught up in a complex plot involving global greed and corruption, oil intrigue in the Middle East and terrorism.
He tore the dura - the membrane that surrounds the spine and brain and holds in the spinal fluid.
This caused excruciating pain which he says was like having a "severe ice cream brain freeze that lasted 24 hours a day". After being examined by a specialist he had to have surgery - but still suffers agonising headaches.
He said: "You can't live like that. You literally can't survive like that because of the pain."
Although it is a serious and painful topic, joker George can't resist cracking a gag about his op.
He said: "They basically had to wrap my whole spine in plastic. They will dig me up in 300 years and wonder, 'What the hell is this?'"
The jokes stop when I suggest that he's gone through a life-altering experience.
"It has been big issue in my life," he admitted. "It changed everything for me. I still have to have blood patches right into my spine to try and clog up the holes... that hurts.
"Every day I still have to deal with pretty severe headaches but nothing like what it was."
http://www.clooneystudio.com/clooney_injury.html
Betty Clooney Foundation
Rehabilitating Persons with Traumatic Brain Injury – TBI
The Betty Clooney Foundation for Persons with Traumatic Brain Injury has been serving the needs of persons with Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) since 1983. The Foundation was named in memory of Betty Clooney. Betty was Nick Clooney and Rosemary Clooney's younger sister, and the aunt of George Clooney. Betty died of a brain trauma caused by an aneurysm.
http://www.bcftbi.org/