mm hmm. Thanks for listening. The liftoff voice podcast is the protection of Angkor, the easiest way to start a podcast, download the free anchor ab right now at anchor dot F. M. And start creating if you like this show, remember you can hear it on anchor or apple podcast, Spotify or other apps you use for listening to podcast. Remember to subscribe for new episodes, Mondays bi weekly. Be inspired with lift all voice diverse backgrounds from immigrants to community leaders, their humble beginnings and their success stories. We believe all voices matter. It's lift all voice with Yes, mm hmm. What? Yeah, welcome all of you to another great episode.

Um and so you know, with everything still going on, I feel like it's just been a crazy, crazy building of the year as we're still in the middle of the pandemic. So today, however our topic is on healing and killing the soul and healing the brain right? And also finding um spiritual healing through um traumatic events, right? Also believing in the power of believing and what does that mean? What would that look like? So, our guest today, her name is mrs Bridget Bridget. I'm probably just is Bridget Rudin and she, it's someone I like to call, I say a remarkable woman because she's been through so much. Um so she is a nurse practitioner. Um she also is a reckon um practitioner as well as spiritual speaker and author and a traumatic brain injury survival.

So she's here today to share her remarkable journey of um what it took for her to go from learning how to use the microwave, right? Um, as an adult from her dramatic brain injury and what it took for her to for her to be what she is at today. Welcome to the show. We're excited to have you here today. Mrs Brewton. Thank you. Faith. I'm so honored that you have invited me here. Excellent. Um, you know, I have, I love that whenever before. I mean with the guest, we get a bit of a chatting on and we were able to talk a little bit. And um, when you first told me a story Bridget, I was very much inspired just because what you went through with your brain injury and man, I didn't even know that you had to that over. Right. And almost like a rebirth for you to learn all these skills, black skills, you know, speaking talking and just walking all of those things.

And so, but I really want to start from where everything started. Right. Can you take us back to before the incident? Like how was life like for you? Well, I'm a mother of three Children. So I'm very busy. I also worked in at the University of Iowa Hospital in actually neonatology. So I worked with patients, obviously their families too. Mm hmm. And I've loved being a nurse since I was I think I said it in second grade. That that's what I wanted to do. So that was my passion is my family and helping others heal. wonderful. So at seven second grade, well everyone, everyone is trying to figure out, you know who's gonna be the best friends, right? And you're there figuring out what it is you wanted to do, you wanted to create a legacy of service um and I came for you, it was through nursing um So take us through the journey when you became a nurse, How was that like for you?

Well I loved it. Um I was scared of getting to you know passing alright and all that kind of stuff that I did and I've had incredible experiences, the ones that I'm most passionate about our Children and their families and all they go through one of the the most powerful jobs is when I worked for the school system and I was a health care provider for Children without insurance um that kind of thing that just warmed my soul because a lot of the parents were in jail or having other issues too. So they um the mother and the Children then would come to me when they needed healthcare, so that just um I loved the game, it filled my soul with such joy of something I can do for Children that were so in need, wow.

I mean speaking of Children and your passion for helping young Children, it sounds like um you also have a big family, right? You had, you said it was eight of you growing up. Yes, I'm the oldest debate, wow. So you definitely have a bit of a preparation in a way before you got to being a parent yourself. Yes. It's like mom, wow. And so,, you know, I can definitely relate to that. Me too. I have a big family also. So, um, here you are working in the hospital., and you love what you're doing, You're working with all these kids and you know, and you're being that advocate for them and trying to help them through everything they're going through like, so did you ever, was there ever an experience in the hospital where you felt, man, I don't think I can think. I don't think I can continue doing this as a marriage. Well. Um, I went on then to graduate school and became a pediatric nurse practitioner.

Oh my gosh, I was so grateful. I have done that to provide more., they're all health care for families that can't really afford it. That's a lot of who I worked with. hmm. That's awesome. So once you, I know nurses, I mean my heart up to them, it seems like a field that's, it takes a lot of courage and a lot of heart to want to be in that service industry., and with everything going on, you know, with Kobe. I know a lot of nurses. Especially on the front line right now doing everything, giving everything they can to be there for our loved ones, right? The ones that we can be next to when they're trying to you know ask for for the the helping me or when they're taking the live birth breath and they're trying to you know seek help, they're there for them and being an advocate 24 7 um so for you, being a nurse over all these years, you know what is one thing you can say to the nurses out there that are still out there and trying to do the best oh not even just nurses but any healthcare professional like goose bumps actually when angels are coming through just so you know who um I can't even begin to say how what huge gratitude I have which huge ah love and appreciation for all all that they do because of my disabilities, they wouldn't let me go back into nursing to be a part of this.

Yes and that for my heart just to feel like what what the heck can I do? Um but I can pray and not realize that that is still a part of giving for all these precious precious Exactly. Yes. Yes. It's you know being able to pray for them and praying that they will be safe and do what they will be able to continue doing what they're doing um to save lives and and things like that and so once everything you know you said you had this injury that happened, how did it all happen? How did you um experience that? I was on a casual bike ride in the morning and several days before there had been lots of rain and we were on a trail and I don't remember this which I'm very glad I started to go down the trail and at the bottom of the trail I guess there was thick mud and water and tossed me 30 ft onto concrete.

I had a helmet on me but I was in and out of consciousness and flitting from my mouth and my nose my ears. And thank God that because we didn't have cell phones with us and a woman that happened to be walking on that trail had a cell phone and she was able to call them 911. And thank God they got me to the university of viral hospital for I wouldn't be alive when the neurosurgeon first saw my C. T. He looked at a friend of mine because I had actually worked with him before. He said how did this accident happen? And she said it was a bicycle club because I have a hard time believing because 1st 18 demonstrates someone that was in a horrible car accident wow. And this is all from this background that you went on with your family two surgeries that day because after the first one it looked even worse the swelling, the bleeding that went on the brain.

And so since that I had four total brain surgery. Mhm. Because my skull was too bloody and full of bacteria. They couldn't use that back. I have a checking plate. Woo hoo, wow. What is what I mean? What it must have felt like. Um I mean, hopefully you didn't, I mean you didn't feel any of it because you were when you were in common at that time. Yes. When they were operating. And man, I'm grateful for that. Yeah. I didn't start to begin to wake up until they took me on an ambulance to go to another hospital for rehabilitation. Just did not get it. I was so confused. And where my at laying you, What's this? What's just clueless. So it took me a while to even grasp what had happened.

Yeah, I can imagine. I mean, since you've already been through all this trauma and you know, you probably are not even present. You're not there. And so they're just trying to do everything they can to keep you awake and keep you alive. And how wasn't for your family at that time Did they tell you how they they were coping with all of this? Well, not without support. Any stop suffering. I need someone there for them. They were having a hard time. A lot of my friends really thought I was dying., and a lot of my colleagues as well. So,, they were grateful that I got well enough to be transferred to another hospital. I had to relearn everything. Well I I was truly awake. It's like I came from an adult body back into a toddler spot.. Every what a transition for you man did you think of like that makes me think of like how you know when you say your transition to into from an adult's body to a toddler.

I mean I have a three year old and you know right now is she's at that stage where you know how that is when they're trying to figure out themselves and talking a little bit but not quite clear encouraging how to you know speak a little bit more and you know teaching her a little bit at a time. Um to be able to have a grabs. You know basic things. So when you went through all of this and you're not having to start back like start over from fresh. I mean you said not even knowing how to um speak and you were someone who already you're an adult, you really knew all of this. So what was it that really helped you to kind of get you back on your on your feet and slowly to be able to recover. Well my mom said she had for starters me on approaching and she said thousands on that prayer change. And she believes that I due to the power of prayer. That's what got the whole thing going. Then I had to do everything.

We learned how to walk, how to how to write even to understand from a cognitive perspective, you know what, what my youngest was eight years old and she help me with the word of an animal, she loved the horse, help me figure out how to use the microwave. Um So does that kind of explain, does that make sense? Er Yeah, it does, it does. You know what you're saying that I'm just thinking about how you know how you know, your daughter, eight year old and here she was teaching you everything, you taught her basically. Um So she was not only an adult, I mean she seems like somebody who is a great a great eight year old that she was able to help you get you through um that the hard time really. Yeah, yeah, and I felt terrible about that for so many years.

Just like, look what you did to your eight year old, but it's like sometimes cry, it's like I didn't do this on purpose and I have to look back at Yes, she was amazing and look who she's become, she's finishing um college and she's in elementary education and she's the most organized guided gifted child. That wonderful things have come from this, but I have to quit blaming myself. Mhm. Let it go and scene the powerful things that have happened in spite of it all. Yes, that's a great way to think about life really for someone who has been through a traumatic injury like that, such as a brain injury and plus having to go through all of that recovery um to get to this point where you are, but you, you know, see that as a positive, there's a positive side into all of that um you know, negative that happened and your daughter, she sounds amazing.

So she's not a teacher and how is she doing with that being a teacher? She enjoys being a teacher, but she just, she will graduate um next fall, okay, she's kindergarten through eighth grade is you know, where she can choose be as an educational person and she loves the kindergartners and they just love her too. Oh that's wonderful. She seemed like somebody he's going to be very good. Um she's already built that, you know, that caring and um kindness through all the things she had, you know, do to help you as a mother, so she definitely be able to use those in, you know, in her teaching, I'm sure, wonderful. So right now, when you got through all of this now, you say you like you are doing an amazing job, really going all over the place and doing a wonderful job and sharing your story now and talking about um I reckon, you know, healing, which is something I never heard actually before, ah and I'm super excited to hear more about what is reckon yeah, be inspired with lift all voice, diverse backgrounds from immigrants to community leaders, their humble beginnings and their success stories.

We believe all voices matter. It's lift all voice with faith. Yes.. Whoa. Yeah. And how do you how can you heal from that? Using that? Well there's so many things um first you have to believe. Believe in you believe that you are recovering especially with any survivors that have impacts from the brain. It's a baby steps. Just baby steps and you need validation. Even if it's you can spell one word the right way one day.. Need to be supported. I mean miracles came my way. I mean I would call them angelic people in my life to that guided me. because I miss so much of what I did.

You know, being a mother that used to do every hardly any and to take care of Children and their families and so many physicians and other healthcare professions of bridging. You can't go back to your job and I look at him and said, what are you talking about? And they see you, I can't stay awake the whole day. I have to sleep in the afternoons because of my damage to my brain. I can be awake about five hours. I have lost a lot of the cognitive knowledge. Am I saying the wrong words. I lost a lot of my knowledge of how to truly provide health care.. I have such a huge memory loss. I blah blah blah. And I thought now wait a minute and I'm kind of personal. You give me this But I can't show you I can do something.

And so in that amount of time with my um personality my just go been Yes. And I first started by going back and looking at all the charts that have been written about me and I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe it. That's me. Well, what I did then is I started to document on power point and it took me a while and my husband had to help him. Um I even got to see the original cat scans and that kind of thing. I put into a power point presentation And I my first experience when I was still in therapy with speech therapist was I gave them my first presentation, wow. And their mouths were all hanging. And the the girls that were students that worked with me just sad.

. One had to run out of the room because they said Bridget. We have never ever seen anyone with such severe traumatic brain injury improved to the way you are. And I still kind of look back and say, what are you talking about? I'm not active one. So I kept presenting and I presented everywhere. Yeah. And I'm so grateful to because in the presentations I give people hope I train healthcare professionals about what we really need. Wonderful. Yeah. What are advocates need them to support themselves and caring for some and suffering. So then I wasn't needed men her presentation. So I thought I must start writing a book, wow. So you went from, you went from that, you know, not knowing how to speak at all anymore.

Are you in writing to not wanting to write books? Not just books but books. And a person let me bridges start from birth forward when I did. So it was a very it's I've gotten so much wonderful feedback from my book because it shows where I was, who I was etcetera etcetera and how I improved. Mm hmm. The other part is how I take care of myself. Um I try to eat healthy. I exercise. I um have learned like different things. The power of art therapy, the power of journaling how you're feeling. Even if it's a sentence, start putting down what you're feeling, how you feel that can improve to be in support groups for people with epilepsy as I have two people with brain injury for anybody suffering to anything to find a connection with someone is so empowering that I felt like to be with others that are surviving in the same thing that I'm not a crazy woman.

Yes. Like you have that community of support. Yes. And um just my spirituality has enhanced like um and those are the kinds of things I do as well as I went back to school to become reiki practitioner um, and to be able to do that for people. It's even from a distance, I don't have to be present with someone. It helps ease stress and tension. It supports the body in physical, emotional and spiritual human. So that's the other thing I'm here for and thank God when I give to someone because it's just, it's a natural hi for me Frankie or just want to talk to someone suffering, help somebody ah service others is just huge for me to do everything.

So do you feel like with all the um you know the journaling and just writing down your feelings um also using your story as a way to help another person who may be going through something similar or know someone who had went through something like this. Do you think all of that stuff helped you to be on your healing journey? It kind of helps you also And your spirituality as well. Like you said believing. You know, and that's actually something I wanted to ask you about, you mentioned um earlier when we were talking you said um there is the belief that says you said believe in the power of believing and I felt, wow that's something it's so powerful. Like when you, you know, can you explain a little bit more about what you mean by that? Oh for me to believe? Mm hmm that I have truly come through this and shocked so many physicians and etcetera to believe that through the grace of God, the angels.

They're the ones that are brought me back to spirit. And because of this process, I have a higher spirituality that once I believe. Mhm. I truly um believe in the power of believing in that. What's powerful is that to give other people hope and let them see and feel and hear my process. Um, because when I give to others, boy do things come back at me powerful thing. Exactly. Yeah. So am I explaining that correctly? No, it makes sense. Of course believing. It's, it's such a powerful thing. You know, and it comes to fit, you know, having faith and um, it seems like you, you definitely use that as your, your spirituality um, to be able to um grow and to also use that to bless other people.

So when you do you reckon I think I'm saying that right? And hopefully I am Ricky Ricky. R E I K I Ricky so Ricky. Um, is it like a form of therapy? Like what exactly does that look like? That's the magical part of it. Oh, okay. I like that. That's the secret sauce. If someone were here. Can you see what's behind me? Yes, I can see a little bit of that Angels. You see that that's the point too, is that they're here. They're with me. Um I can I put my hands on a person for each area of the body that needs help. I mean it's our whole mind body and spirit all the time and I can feel when there's problems, situations, issues within the mind, the body.

Um, and I of course have God and the angels right there with me, I asked them to come through and provide the healing or where it needs to occur. Mm hmm. I just work on that and I keep in touch with clients and I'm so grateful that people have improved in things in so many ways, which you can view on my website or but the awesome thing is that we can do healing from distance. Mm hmm. You know, and it's like just spreading love with incredible energy from God. Just Yes, thank you. And I also have awesome experiences with that. Um if people had time and wanted to talk to me more about it, wow, this is amazing. Um you definitely have such an inspiration and story and I'm so glad that you, you know, you agreed to come on the show and share without all of our audience and everyone that's listening today.

Um you know, I already spoke to me so far. It's a, you know, how can others be able to remain included? How can I um believe in the power and believe in the power of having um and you know, the ability to be believed in a higher power. Um and having states. It really is something that I think can really help push you through your healing process. Um I feel with anything in life really that you're experiencing. And um so right now, how are you able, I know you said you're able to do the practice through video and things like that. So for our listeners who are wanting to learn a lot more about what it is that you do, how you bring hope through healing. How can people reach out to you? Well, the easiest way would be my website Brigid rudin dot com and will give much more information. It will also um show you the book that I wrote if you wanted to get that as well as set up appointments with me.

The other thing if people are interested in me giving a webinar or a talk somewhere to share my story that's available. But there is coming up on March 6th webinar doing that's international about um the way to heal the brain. If people wanted to do that, they could also look at my website to register for them. Mm hmm. And he's so honored. So awesome. So you have a lot of sense that you have a lot coming up here for you. Um You're a busy woman with everything you have going on. And you know, I think that's amazing that you're continuing being staying encouraged to continue the story and and share with people. I think when we when we share a story it makes such a difference into other people's lives sometimes even more than our lives because they really see the experience that you went through as a lesson, you know? Um and it just helps a lot of people and thank you so much for you know, being here with us today and and sharing this message of hope and of healing and the power of believing in um you know, spiritual being, it could be anything because God and just everything else that you mentioned today and um having that balloon can help me move forward in life.

And is there anything else you wanted to share before we go? Well, once I care for you so very much faith for inviting me. Secondly, I'm here for you as well as everyone that's listening if you need me what here and now I'm sending you so much love and joy and many hugs. Yeah, yes, thank you so much. And yes guys, so definitely look up her information um on her website and you can also find her on social media on facebook as well. Right, okay, excellent. Will also need that information for you guys to learn more of her in the show notes. So that way you can be able to stay connected. Um thank you all for listening and um make sure you follow us on facebook later Voices also on Youtube and um wherever you listen to podcasts, Apple Spotify and wherever else you guys get your podcasts. So we will be turning soon.

I will be seeing you guys soon and stay tuned. Thank you.