I just returned from a week-long roadtrip to Washington DC where I joined up with a large group of my fellow Brain Injury Association of America comrades to lobby for our healthcare!  I was able to reunite with friends I know from brain injury awareness day, as well as make new friends — including some professional lobbyists!

It was an incredible experience, and I am so thankful for the support I received from Motion Intelligence to help make this trip possible!

On my way out to DC I spent the night outside Columbus, OH … and found out the day before that Senator Bernie Sanders would be  hosting a #ProtectOurCare rally in Columbus in the morning. I was able to attend the rally on Sunday before arriving in DC … and it was definitely a very cool experience!

Tuesday was our big (and long) day in DC. We spent the entire day at the Senate building meeting with our Senator’s staff and attended a Congressional Briefing. Included in the panel were Senator Tammy Duckworth from IL who is a wounded warrior, a former college football player for Rutgers who was paralyzed in a tackle, and a Boston Marathon bombing survivor who lost her leg above the knee.

After the briefing, I handed out copies of my Huffington Post article on Healthcare to the 18 critical Senators who were most likely to give the bill a NO vote.

The night before our big day in DC, I was invited to speak at the MoveOn.org demonstration on the front lawn of the Capitol on Tuesday night. WOW … what an experience that was! Not only to be a part of history, but on the front lawn with the gorgeous Capitol in the background! You can watch the short video below … I a still floating on Cloud 9 from that experience!

On Wednesday we went back to the Capitol where we had lunch with my truly awesome Senator, Al Franken. We followed that up by delivering my article to our House Representatives. We went back and promptly took a big ol’ nap afterwards!!

On Thursday I headed out bright and early to a meeting at Penn School of Medicine in Philadelphia,PA where I met with two of the awesome coordinators from the Mind Your Brain conference, to be held on March 23, 2018 with Kevin Pearce as their Keynote speaker. I was also invited to be a part of the conference and am completely thrilled and honored to be a part of this amazing event which is completely FREE for survivors and caregivers — so put it on your calendar if you’re in the area!!

I returned home on Sunday evening after a brief visit with my college roommate in Chicago. I took Monday and Tuesday to rest up and am now gearing up to write a bunch of articles for Huffington Post, and am also lining up some amazing guests for my podcast series! I can’t wait to share them with you!

Additionally — if you are in the Columbus, OH area the Concussion Health Conference is being held on July 28th & 29th I will be presenting and would love to meet you!!