Dawn Corbelli

My name is Dawn Corbelli. My husband and I met in the Air Force which I joined at the age of 17. We married when I was 19 and have been married for 36 years, my proudest accomplishment. Together we have two beautiful grown daughters. During my three and a half years in the Air Force, I won Airman of the Year. Once out of the Air Force I spent the next 16 years being a stay-at-home mom, while I was also a military wife for 23 years. I have a degree in Applied Behavioral Science.

Feb 13, 2008, my younger daughter, at the age of 15, and I sustained brain injuries in a horrific car accident. I am her daily caregiver, and my older daughter and husband continue to take care of and support us in many ways.

Since our brain injuries, although I struggle with many cognitive deficits, I have done volunteering to help others. At the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) I worked in the office and supplied resources to those in need. I also taught classes called Family-2-Family to parents and other relatives of the mentally ill and nursing classes, about mental illness. I volunteered at Westside Cares, handing out clothes and toiletries to homeless and low-income individuals for eight years. Since then, I have published a brain injury educational book about the first 12 years of our recovery titled,
A Miracle a Day, One Day at a Time: Hope After Traumatic Brain Injury
https://store.bookbaby.com/book/A-miracle-a-day-one-day-at-a-time
I post a weekly blog on my Raw and Real brain injury website dawncorbelli.com to help survivors, caregivers, other loved ones to understand what it is truly like to live with a brain injury, and to feel validated, understood, and less lonely on their journey. In the past four years, my brain injured daughter, and I have taught over 60 classes of high school students, teachers, and counselors about brain injuries, their symptoms, causes, and about our journey through recovery.

We appreciate every blessing, large and small, and we are grateful every day. Our family would not be capable of living the loving, blessed, and productive life we do without God and each other.