My story has less to do with me and more to do with my sister. 

My fascination for the human brain, the way it works, its ability to change, and how we can apply that knowledge, came from my little sister Rose.

Rose was born with spina bifida and shortly after birth suffered a massive stroke. The consequence of these both, from a neurological perspective was enough to kill the left hemisphere of her brain. To no surprise the doctors came to my family with very conclusive words… Rose will not walk, talk, hear, eat, read, write… and the list went on and on and on. No surprises there… she has half of a brain.

Regardless, we began sending her to cognitive and physical therapy while learning sign language on our end because we weren’t really sure how we’d communicate to her. Fast forwarding to get to the point here… I was getting ready to head out for my senior night football game in high-school when I heard someone behind me screaming my name.

Who was this super fan? I turned around and standing behind me waving around purple pom poms was Rose continuing to scream my name with a big smile across her face. I broke two school records that night. Fast forward a few years later Rose is attending that same high-school and is the anchor on the track team. Rose is not a walking miracle.. she’s a running one. It was her story that drove my need to know the brain, which ultimately led me to Braintrust.