LESSONS LEARNED FROM A PARENT AND CAREGIVER

 OF AN INDIVIDUAL LIVING WITH SPINAL CORD INJURY

“Mental health is one of the things I feel that everybody in a situation like this needs,”

Folgueiras said, noting that physical adaptations at home and school are obvious, but monitoring a primary caregiver’s mental well-being is just as important. 

You have to have someone to talk this stuff out with.”

“(The parent of a newly-injured child goes through) a lot a suppression. 

You squash down your feelings because you don’t want your child to see you hurting,” she said. 

“My doctors told me I had to get rest. When I left the hospital at night, that killed me.”