War Stories From Ward 7-D

At the Polytrauma Unit of the VA medical center in Palo Alto, we meet four Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) patients who are working to put their lives back together. Only some of them bear obvious wounds, such as a lost eye or a missing part of a skull, but all share in common serious injuries to their brains.

These veterans must relearn everyday things that we take for granted. Some struggle with simple motor skills, like picking up a pencil or walking normally; others grapple with memory loss and emotional difficulties, like one Army veteran who can't remember giving birth to her own daughter.