Page 12 - WesternU View - Fall 2017
P. 12
Eye Care Institute is a
GAME CHANGER
By Rodney Tanaka
Photos by Jeff Malet
Jacob Green’s life changed on February 6, 1998.
T hen a freshman at UC Berkeley, Green envisioned becoming a diplomat and
“changing the world.” He worked as a Berkeley guide, showing people how to get
around town. On February 6, he went down to the subway to escape the rain when
he saw a man attacking two subway agents. Green tried to distract the assailant, who then
turned and attacked Green,
smashing him repeatedly on
the side of the head.
He went to the emergency
room, was discharged, and
resumed classes. He kept
telling people he was fine, but
his mother feared otherwise.
She attended a class with
Green, who got up about 30
seconds into the lecture and
left.
“She grabbed my notebook
and saw I had no notes after
February 6. It was all blank,” Green said. “I just couldn’t be in an environment with lots of
noise, and those lecture halls were just very distracting and too difficult to sit through. I
couldn’t remember anything. I was lost all the time. I was vomiting a lot. I was having lots of
severe headaches and migraines and just not functioning at all.”
Green was diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury. He had to drop out of college to focus
on a full-time, home-based rehabilitation program that included physical therapy, speech
therapy, occupational therapy and neuropsychology. After the six-month program ended, his
medical team recommended that he relocate to Southern California to enroll in the Coastline
Community College Acquired Brain Injury program for two years.
10
GAME CHANGER
By Rodney Tanaka
Photos by Jeff Malet
Jacob Green’s life changed on February 6, 1998.
T hen a freshman at UC Berkeley, Green envisioned becoming a diplomat and
“changing the world.” He worked as a Berkeley guide, showing people how to get
around town. On February 6, he went down to the subway to escape the rain when
he saw a man attacking two subway agents. Green tried to distract the assailant, who then
turned and attacked Green,
smashing him repeatedly on
the side of the head.
He went to the emergency
room, was discharged, and
resumed classes. He kept
telling people he was fine, but
his mother feared otherwise.
She attended a class with
Green, who got up about 30
seconds into the lecture and
left.
“She grabbed my notebook
and saw I had no notes after
February 6. It was all blank,” Green said. “I just couldn’t be in an environment with lots of
noise, and those lecture halls were just very distracting and too difficult to sit through. I
couldn’t remember anything. I was lost all the time. I was vomiting a lot. I was having lots of
severe headaches and migraines and just not functioning at all.”
Green was diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury. He had to drop out of college to focus
on a full-time, home-based rehabilitation program that included physical therapy, speech
therapy, occupational therapy and neuropsychology. After the six-month program ended, his
medical team recommended that he relocate to Southern California to enroll in the Coastline
Community College Acquired Brain Injury program for two years.
10
