Alexis Lee

In the Author's Words:

A short memoir packed with first-hand experience about a topic rarely discussed from the survivor's perspective, Beauty for Ashes: Memoir of a Traumatic Brain Injury Survivor shares my horrors and triumphs after sustaining a Traumatic Brain Injury from a motor vehicle accident during the most promising part of my life. While not entirely in chronological order, due to memory impairment, I decided to categorize the major areas affected in my life by this tragedy. My goal is to support other trauma survivors, and those close to them, by discussing the ugly truths one can face with an injury that cannot be seen, yet is often misunderstood and underestimated. As a reflection of my personality, this piece has humour and sincerity towards the many roads that lead me to where I currently am in my recovery. From loss of cognitive skills, friendships and my independence, to the climax of an expected engagement to my boyfriend that didn't happen. As the negative medical reports, discouragement and isolation drained the colour from my life's portrait, my fight to believe the God I grew to know as a compassionate One became the foundation for my triumph and recovery.

Observing the lack of education and awareness within my native Caribbean community, I tear open the curtains of issues shunned and hidden at large - depression and anxiety - hurdles I silently struggled with as a result of shame. This leads the reader to prompt discussions, and hopefully, develop compassion and understanding for those who feel the same as I did. I express the reality of life's frailty; the pressures that test and shake relationships across the board - how strong are the ones we believe to be the strongest?

Beauty for Ashes: Memoir of a Traumatic Brain Injury Survivor is a gripping story about conquering the odds, and finding solace after the storm.

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Alexis is a traumatic brain injury survivor dedicated to bringing awareness and compassion for other survivors and those supporting them. She is a college and university graduate who established her career in the criminal justice system. For more than a decade, she dedicated herself to working in the criminal justice field, as well as her local women’s shelter, where she supported survivors of domestic abuse.

Following her dreams and passion for the fashion industry, she became a businesswoman as a personal stylist eight months prior to the motor vehicle accident that changed her world. Loss of life as she knew it built faith, fortitude and positive approaches that transformed years of trauma into triumph.