“Brain injury happens so fast. It doesn’t just happen to the person injured, but to their whole family and community,” shares Jennifer Broom, brain injury survivor and founding board member of Side by Side. “You’re just kind of thrown into it whether you want to be or not, and no one really learns about it until you have to.”
Before her injury, Jennifer found joy building hope where it was needed most. Her passion for service began on church mission trips. “I did several, well more than several, almost 10 mission trips,” Jennifer shares. “I fell in love with developing countries.” That passion led her to pursue a master’s in public health at Boston University, a joint program with the Peace Corps. Soon after graduating, she was on a plane to Senegal, West Africa, ready to make a difference.
But her journey took an unexpected turn. A sudden car accident while serving in the Peace Corps left Jennifer with a traumatic brain injury. She was air lifted from Dakar to a hospital in Spain before being flown back to Atlanta, GA where she started to regain consciousness.
After the hospital, Jennifer went to Meadowbrook (now Shepherd Pathways) where she had therapy appointments five days a week—physical, occupational, speech, recreation, and cognitive. That’s where Jennifer met Cindi Johnson, her cognitive therapist. As she and Cindi became friends, Cindi would talk about her dream to create a place where survivors could continue healing and rebuilding their lives together.
“I had so much support from my family,” Jennifer says, “but I knew that wasn’t typical. There was such a need for a place like this.” When Cindi began forming Side by Side, Jennifer didn’t hesitate to join as a founding board member.
Through her years of advocacy and service, Jennifer found purpose again in helping others find theirs. “Everybody needs to feel relevant—to be seen and heard and know they matter,” she says. “That’s what Side by Side gives people: a family.”
— Jennifer Broom, Founding Board Member