[TO YOUR HEALTH]
"I have come a long way and I am grateful.
If anything, it's made me feel
more joyful."
Margery Sauve
Serves on the boards of the Hawaii Center
for Independent Living and the
Brain Injury Association of Hawaii.
Finding the MARGERY SAUVE says she is almost embarrassed to tell people she suffered a brain injury because she was hit by a surfboard.
power to heal
An entertainer shares her
determined, 5-year quest to
overcome a crippling
brain injuryBrain trauma's costly toll
By Helen Altonn
haltonn@starbulletin.com"They say, 'Were you surfing?'
"No, I was eating," she explains.
Sauve, 40, a professional singer and dancer, is only now beginning to recover from dinner Oct. 18, 1996, at a Waikiki restaurant.
A competition long surfboard hanging from the ceiling about 10 feet above where she was sitting fell and hit the back of her head. It bounced, and her husband, Brian Wells, pushed it away or it would have hit her again, she said.
"Emergency didn't treat it seriously at all," she said. "They checked my neck and sent me home. They said I'd be fine in six months."
However, it was 2 1/2 years before she could turn her head from one side to the other, Sauve said.
Sauve serves on the boards of the Hawaii Center for Independent Living and the Brain Injury Association of Hawaii. She will participate in a panel discussion during the annual Brain Injury Conference Oct. 13 at the state Capitol auditorium.
"There are still issues I have to work on every day with my neck," she said. "I couldn't drive the first year." Turning her head made her throw up, she said.
She could not tolerate flashing lights or sit long in a movie. "It was like perpetual morning sickness. These things really never got better. I tried all sorts of things, the regular doctor thing, a physical therapist. I worked hard at swimming."
Sauve subsequently was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, which she feels is related to her head trauma.
She and her husband filed a lawsuit over the accident, but she said they are still paying high medical bills.
When she was able to fly, her husband, employed by 3M, got a position in California and took her there so friends and family could care for her while he worked. She had to use a wheelchair outside the house because she tired quickly and her balance and depth perception were off, she said.
"The whole handicap thing was really hard to swallow. ... I used to climb mountain ranges -- the Alps, Sierras, Pyrenees, Columbia Gorge. That was my fun thing to do in summer."
She did jazz concerts in Hawaii and performed in European tours from 1992-1995. She arranged and recorded songs for a CD, "For the Man I Love." She performed extensively in festivals, musicals, plays, bands and concerts and taught dance and music.
She had to put her career on hold the past five years and focus on rehabilitation, although she has begun teaching again. After three years in California, the couple returned here in January 2000 so she could swim year-round. She had loved Hawaii since first moving here in 1991, she said. "A breeze just feels like a hug."
The couple did a lot of research concerning her injuries and possible rehabilitation services and funding.
A friend in a wheelchair told her of the Brain Injury Association of Hawaii, but for a long time she denied she had such an injury, Sauve said. "You don't want to go and deal with it. Once you go, you realize how bloody lucky you are. It could be much worse."
Sauve said she has made a huge change in six months "doing my own path."
She gave up meat and dairy products and is off all medications. She began "dahn hak," a Korean form of exercise that combines tai chi, yoga and qi gong. She also swims 500 meters three times a week at the Palolo pool.
"This is putting all the control back in my life," she said. "For the first time in five years, I slept all night. That is a huge thing for me. I was up seven times a night. How can you ever feel rested?"
Sauve also believes in "The Healing Power of Cayenne Pepper," a book in her home. Drinking half of one-eighth of a teaspoon in apple juice helps her with energy, sinus, stomach and cognition problems, she said.
"It's just an amazing thing for me," she said. "I'm a lot less wobbly." She was using a walker until three or four months ago, and still uses it sometimes when shopping, she said. She also has an electric scooter to get around malls.
She said she was feeling sorry for herself, asking, "Why me?" Her husband took her to the ballet thinking it would make her happy, and she "couldn't stop crying. It reminded me so much of what I couldn't do."
The answer to "Why me?" came in the dahn hak class, she said.
She decided to teach dance and music to handicapped people. "I know it's the right thing. I think that's why I got hurt. I believe in the healing power of music."
Then she plans to concentrate on a business plan for handicapped music classes.
"I have come a long way, and I am grateful," she said. "If anything, it's made me feel more joyful. I have wonderful friends and an amazing husband, a real partner. ... You've got to appreciate every day you wake up."
Sauve was married seven years to a musician who was killed by a drunken driver in a traffic accident in October 1992. He had purchased an airline ticket to join her in Hawaii after playing in renaissance festivals in the Midwest.
Since then, she said, "I give hugs to everyone."
Traumatic brain injury is defined as "an insult to the brain ... caused by an external physical force that may produce a diminished or altered state of consciousness, which results in an impairment of cognitive abilities or physical functioning. It can also result in the disturbance of behavioral or emotional functioning." Brain trauma's costly toll
>> In Hawaii in 1999, about 1,167 patients were discharged from hospitals with a traumatic brain injury diagnosis. Eighty-three percent were admitted through the emergency room. Total charges were more than $33 million.
>> Patients age 60 and older had the highest percentage of admissions, due largely to falls.
>> Patients ages 22 to 40 had the second-highest number of traumatic brain injuries, primarily caused by vehicle accidents.
Source: Hawaii Health Information Corporation
"Community Re-integration," the major goal of everyone who sustains a brain injury, is the theme for this year's Brain Injury Conference at the state Capitol auditorium Oct. 13. A return trip to the world
Honolulu neuropsychologist Richard Kappenberg will open the conference with an overview of "Community Re-integration." The event, sponsored by the Brain Injury Association of Hawaii, will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Panel discussions include "Strategies for Achieving Re-integration," "The Many Forms of Cognitive Rehabilitation," "Getting into the Workforce," "Getting Assistance in Landing a Job," "Tips for a Successful Return to Work" and "Job Maintenance: Surviving Your Job."
The conference fee, including a continental breakfast and lunch, is $5 for people with disabilities and $20 for others.
To register, call Lyna Burian, past president and board member of the Brain Injury Association of Hawaii, at 941-0372.
Star-Bulletin staff