From Injury to Advocacy

In early 2011, on a Sunday morning, Bob was heading out to play golf with his friends
when he got a headache. He waved down an unmarked police car and told the officer
he was in severe pain.

“That’s all I remember,” he says. He woke up a few days later in a sterile hospital room, alone and hooked up to machines. He had had a cerebral hemorrhage – a brain bleed – and nearly died.

Despite the severity of his condition, he was sent home and told to rest up. He knew he didn’t feel right, but he figured he would just push through until he felt better. “I thought I would just snap out of it,” he says. Eventually he quit his job so he could fully recover. But he never did.

Five years after his incident, Murphy finally found a nurse practitioner who recognized what was going on: he had a severe brain injury. From there, he finally found resources and support to help him begin healing.

His losses in those five years were huge. Murphy found himself with no savings, limited mobility, and mental health struggles. Because he couldn’t participate in the activities he used to love, he lost friends. He felt like he was in a permanent daze.

After living comfortably for many years before his brain injury, he has had to figure out how to live in one of the country’s most expensive cities, Toronto, on a limited disability income and the six hours he works a week as an outreach worker. His own financial insecurity post-injury means he now understands what it is like to struggle to keep food on the table. He is housed – but he knows many with brain injuries who are not. In fact, Brain Injury Canada estimates that 50 per cent of unhoused people have experienced a brain injury.

In the intervening years, Murphy has become an advocate for tenants’ rights, people living on disability, and those experiencing food insecurity. Motivated to help others in similar situations, Bob is using the energy he has to illuminate the interconnections between injury and food, housing, and employment insecurity to elected officials, city councillors, and social justice groups.

“It’s important that we have a voice at the table and our voices be heard.

Every single person’s voice is important. Many individuals with brain injury don’t want to talk about it… because of the stigma that comes along with it,” he says.

He wants Canadians to recognize that many people on disability – including those with brain injury – are navigating near impossible situations. Some can no longer drive, yet they can’t afford the bus and don’t have the energy to walk. They might struggle to find jobs that can accommodate their limited energy, yet for many, doing even a small amount of work contributes immensely to their recovery.

It’s a series of complicated choices that Bob wants to bring to light, advocating for better solutions from the government and more empathy from everyday Canadians.