Your Weekly Dose of #5ThoughtsFriday: A description of what we think is important at BIAMD
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Medals are in, Shirts expected on Monday Nov. 8th !
Swag Launches next week.

If you've already run, send us your pictures and watch your mailboxes!

If you haven't registered, now Is the time so we can put your swag in the mail AND pictures on the web!
WHERE IN THE WORLD are you running/walking/rolling/strolling YOUR
Scarecrow Classic Virtual Brain Challenge?
The 2021 Scarecrow Classic Virtual Brain Challenge Series will be held from October 16, 2021 through November 20, 2021. 

This Virtual event, hosted by the Brain Injury Association of Maryland (BIAMD) will rally survivors, families, friends, and supporters around the common goal of raising awareness about brain injury within the community and providing much needed funding to support the programs and initiatives of BIAMD.

TO JOIN: 
  • CLICK HERE to Register for the Scarecrow Classic Virtual Brain Challenge Series before November 20, 2021.
  • Complete a 1 Mile Run/Walk, 5K (3.1 miles) or 10K (6.2 miles) at your convenience any time anywhere before November 13, 2021. 
  • Celebrate your accomplishment by sharing on your preferred social media site and use the hashtag #ScarecrowBrainChallenge2021 so we can find it!
 
ALL NEW SWAG.

Every entry gets you an All New 2021 Scarecrow Classic Virtual Brain Challenge long sleeve tee that you’ll love to wear with pride, AND, for the second time Brain Challenge Series, ALL runners will receive a Scarecrow Classic Finisher Medal AND the SECOND piece of the 5 piece Brain Challenge Medal. 
 
This year the piece will be the OCCIPITAL LOBE
CLICK HERE to see what the 1935 first game looked liked.
#5Thoughts Friday
The
Edition
11/05/2021

High levels of a key blood protein point to brain shrinkage and damage to message-sending axons
Elevated blood levels of a specific protein may help scientists predict who has a better chance of bouncing back from a traumatic brain injury.
The protein, called neurofilament light or NfL for short, lends structural support to axons, the tendrils that send messages between brain cells. Levels of NfL peak on average at 10 times the typical level 20 days after injury and stay above normal a year later, researchers report September 29 in Science Translational Medicine. The higher the peak NfL blood concentrations after injury, the tougher the recovery for people with TBI six and 12 months later, shows the study of 197 people treated at eight trauma centers across Europe for moderate to severe TBI.

Brain scans of 146 participants revealed that their peak NfL concentrations predicted the extent of brain shrinkage after six months, and axon damage at six and 12 months after injury, neurologist Neil Graham of Imperial College London and his colleagues found.

These researchers also had a unique opportunity to check that the blood biomarker, which gives indirect clues about the brain injury, actually measured what was happening in the brain. In 18 of the participants that needed brain surgery, researchers sampled the fluid surrounding injured neurons. NfL concentrations there correlated with NfL concentrations in the blood.

CLICK HERE for more on this ironically named brain injury protein.
BIAMD ANNUAL CONFERENCE
March 24-25
CALL FOR PRESENTATIONS



The Brain Injury Association of Maryland will hold its 2022 Annual Conference LIVE IN PERSON on March 24th-25th in Baltimore, Maryland. This year's Conference Committee is now accepting applications for breakout session presentations on all topics that affect individuals with brain injuries, their families, and the professional healthcare providers that care for them.

Every year, for over three decades, we have been able to provide a forum to amazing researchers, healthcare providers, family members and survivors who bring their unique perspectives and stories to our conference attendees.

If you are interested in presenting at our conference next March, please complete the online application form below. We look forward to seeing you then.


The California man who was hit with federal charges for allegedly attacking a flight attendant on an American Airlines flight reportedly suffered a traumatic brain injury during an assault in New York City.

Brian Hsu, 20, was accused of slugging the crew member in the face after she told him to sit down because the “fasten seatbelt” sign was on during the Oct. 27 flight from JFK Airport to John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana, according to an FBI affidavit.

The incident took place as Hsu, who attended school in New York, was returning home after undergoing brain surgery, according to the feds.
The suspect claimed he has psychological damage and “brain fog” after being assaulted last fall in Manhattan, according to the Daily Mail.

Police confirmed to The Post that Hsu was attacked by a street peddler selling CDs on Sept. 23, 2020 at Union Square West.

CLICK HERE for more on this story
As part of the American Rescue Plan, Maryland has received an enhanced Federal match on state expenditures for home and community-based service under Maryland Medicaid during the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency. The funds must be reinvested in home and community-based services based on the priority areas outlined by CMS. State Medicaid Directors must submit their plan for spending the additional 10% match funds to expand, enhance, or strengthen Home and Community Based Services.

At least 75% of Maryland’s match dollars have been allocated to a much-needed provider rate increase for certain community, behavioral health, and substance use services including the Brain Injury Waiver.

Maryland Medicaid is requesting ideas and recommendations from stakeholders for how to spend remaining 25%.

CLICK HERE for more information about the request for input.

Brain injury stakeholders have an opportunity propose ideas to close the gaps and improve service and supports for people living with a brain injury and their supporters that fit within the CMS guidelines. The Brain Injury Association of Maryland will be submitting proposals based on recommendations made by the Traumatic Brain Injury Advisory Board including:

  • Expanding ABI screening for people receiving services in the public behavioral health system
  • Funding the TBI Trust Fund
  • Expanding technical eligibility criteria for the BI Waiver
  • Implementing the legally required Traumatic Brain Injury Registry

In addition to advocating for the Traumatic Brain Injury Advisory Board's recommendations, BIAMD will also be proposing enhancement to support Brain Injury Waiver provider recruitment and the retention of direct care staff.

CLICK HERE If you have recommendations or want to support the use of these funds to address the recommendations by the TBI Advisory Board, please submit your comments using this form.

Sunshine Coast triathlete Alexa Leary has gotten her long-awaited home from the hospital today, after 111 days of recovering from a devastating brain injury that changed her life.

The then 19-year-old athlete was practicing her regular workout in Pomona on July 17 when she cut the back of another bike, an accident that caused major brain damage, blood clots and several broken bones.

Mrs. Leary was transferred to the Royal Brisbane and the Women’s Hospital, where she was placed in an induced coma.

Today, she returned home faster than expected after extensive and ongoing rehabilitation and a startling recovery.

“I’m feeling really, really great, like a new person,” Mrs. Leary said.

“I have come a long way. My hand, it would not move at all, and now it is good, now it is normal again.”

Her father, Russell Leary, said the family was happy to have the triathlete back home.

“It feels like Christmas Day,” he said.
CLICK HERE to see about this inspirational story from "Downunder".
2) What We are Reading This Week
If it’s navel-gazing you’re after, you’ve come to the wrong place; ditto treacly self-examination. Rather, his observations turn outward: a fight between two men on a bus, a fight between two men on the street, pedestrians being whacked over the head or gathering to watch as a man considers leap­ing to his death. There’s a dirty joke shared at a book signing, then a dirtier one told at a dinner party—lots of jokes here. Plenty of laughs.
 
These diaries remind you that you once really hated George W. Bush, and that not too long ago, Donald Trump was just a harm­less laughingstock, at least on French TV. Time marches on, and Sedaris, at his desk or on planes, in hotel dining rooms and odd Japanese inns, records it. The entries here reflect an ever-changing background—new administrations, new restrictions on speech and conduct. What you can say at the start of the book, you can’t by the end. At its best, A Carnival of Snackery is a sort of sampler: the bitter and the sweet. Some entries are just what you wanted. Others you might want to spit discreetly into a napkin.

CLICK HERE to see more.
If you decide to buy anything mentioned in #5ThoughtsFriday, don't forget to use 
Amazon Smile and select the 
donation beneficiary.
We receive 0.5% of the purchase price and you receive the same great service, no extra charge! 
1) Quote We are Contemplating
“Autumn is a visual gift given by nature to raise the morale of human beings who is worried
as they enter the dark days of winter!”

Looking for Something fun to do in Maryland this weekend?

Click the picture below and discover a world of possibilities!
HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEKEND.

THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING THE COVID-19 VACCINE BY GETTING VACCINATED , GETTING THE BOOSTER, and WEARING YOUR MASK IN PUBLIC.

THE LIFE YOU SAVE
MAY BE YOUR OWN.

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This blog is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute endorsement of treatments, individuals, or programs which appear herein. Any external links on the website are provided for the visitor’s convenience; once you click on any of these links you are leaving BIAMD's #5ThoughtsFriday blog post. BIAMD has no control over and is not responsible for the nature, content, and availability of those sites. 

 Thanks for reading! Have a wonderful weekend.