Travis Bailey’s road to recovery

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A gunshot to the head left a Hamilton man with a traumatic brain injury. It’s been 10 years since the brutal shooting but 32 year old Travis Bailey tells us that he’s still recovering and coping with the aftermath of the most devastating night of his life.

It was a case of mistaken identity. On May 7th 2006 Travis opened the door of his home on Cannon Street East and was shot seconds later. The courts heard the teenager with the shotgun had come to his place that night to collect a drug debt owed by a previous tenant. Now, 10 years later and after more than 30 surgeries he continues to deal with a number of struggles including partial paralysis on his left side and a blind right eye.

A long road to recovery but Travis has regained some independence and with years of physiotherapy Travis can do some cooking but it’s difficult to bathe himself. According to his family, services to personal support workers have been cut off and Travis is no longer receiving the help he needs, his mother has filed a complaint.

Travis says without the help of his family he doesn’t know where he would be today. He gets other support from survivors right here at this clubhouse for the Hamilton Brain Injury Association. Adria Simas is the service co-ordinator at the association and says Travis comes twice a week. The survivors who are dealing with what they call an invisible injury, struggles in the brain, gather at the clubhouse and share their stories in order to help one another.