Dozens take part in Winnipeg brain injury awareness walk
About 100 people walked through Assiniboine Park Sunday morning to raise money and awareness for those living with brain injuries.
Brain injury survivors, and their family and friends walked 2½ kilometres as part of the 12th annual Manitoba Brain Injury Association event.
David Sullivan, executive director with the association, said the walk provides an important opportunity to advocate on the behalf of those living with brain injuries and the daily challenges they face.
"The barriers they live with, those disabilities, you can't see. It's short-memory, it's fatigue ... it's mobility issues," Sullivan said, adding people with brain injuries also often have trouble mutlitasking.
"You run out of gas. You're just tired."
In contrast to something like a broken bone, neurosurgeon Michael Ellis said brain injuries are often hidden disabilities that may not be obvious to the outside world.
Ellis, medical director of the Pan Am Concussion Program in Winnipeg, said while it is possible to recover from some brain injuries, others can leave sufferers with severe physical and cognitive deficits.
"It really takes a pretty intricate support system to try to support those patients, both from the medical community but also once they transition back into the community," Ellis said.
Funds raised during the walk are expected to go to the Manitoba Brain Injury Association.
