Brain Injury Survivors Share Their Stories

CUTTLERVILLE (Newschannel 3) - A young woman from West Michigan who survived a serious brain injury is now part of a movie that will serve as an example to teens around the country.

That woman is Amy Tromp, who went into a coma after living through a nearly-fatal car accident. Tromp was the passenger of a car that flipped over several times on a highway in Muskegon, seriously injuring her head.

When she didn't wake up after the accident and then for weeks, her family thought it was all over for her.

"It happens in just a blink of an eye," said Tromp. "You know, you may be totally innocent, it may be someone else's fault or it may just be one of those uncontrollable circumstances. You have to be so careful."

After she finally woke up, Tromp didn't know if she'd ever be able to read and write again, let alone have the coordination to play the piano, one of her hobbies.

"I was a very bright senior who was making up words, who was writing in fragments, and saying stuff that doesn't make sense," she said.

Tromp is one of six twenty-somethings in a national movie project called "The Other Breakfast Club," a movie made to alert people about brain injuries, many of which can happen in car crashes. While the message is going out to everybody, it is especially focused on young drivers.

Adele Kristiansson with the National Road Safety Foundation, says that the movie may have more of an impact on young drivers, because it doesn't just show a bad car accident, but instead, the aftereffects of the accident.

"The prospect of being in a diaper for the rest of their lives, or being dependent to get here and there and not having a social network, that's meaningful to young people, in a greater sense than seeing a scare tactic of a car crash," said Kristiansson.

Filmmaker Mark Sadan agrees, and adds that it's inspiring for young people to see their peers overcoming obstacles.

"It's inspiring to show what people can rise to if they are dealt a blow of having to begin all over again," said Sadan.

By looking at Amy Tromp, you think she's back to normal. But in reality, she still has serious issues with vision and swallowing food and liquids.

"I have to just gulp even though its rude," she said. "You don't want to do that in public, but if I don't gulp, then I just choke."

The movie debuted Tuesday night in Grand Rapids to a closed crowd, but will later be distributed to driver's safety classes as a teaching tool.