(WVEC) - Elizabeth “Liz” Rooney is a multiple traumatic brain injury survivor. “In my life I never knew what it was like to live without a brain injury,” said Rooney.

At the age of 16 months, she fell from the railing of a staircase. Later on in life, she had multiple concussions from numerous sporting injuries, including one time she was pole vaulting and her pole broke.

“My pole broke and I landed on my head in the box area, where you plant the pole between the two mats,” she said. On top of all that, she was also in more than seven different car accidents by the time she was 25.

For years Rooney overlooked the effects of her falls, until she saw the changes they had on her health and cognition. CONTINUE