On Saturday March 19, 2022 for National Brain Injury Month, students and faculty from San Diego College of Continuing Education (SDCCE) Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) Programs are walking together to raise funds and awareness for San Diego Brain Injury Foundation’s (SDBIF’s) 15th annual surviveHEADSTRONG Walk for Recovery.  The event will take place from 8:00am to 1:00pm at De Anza Cove in North Mission Bay.

Together, SDCCE’s Team ABI and the SDBIF are aiming to raise $70,000 this year to provide life-changing resources for fellow San Diegans recovering from a brain injury. The event is open to the public and to register, donate, or fundraise, please go to: https://sdbif.org/teamabi/.

SDCCE’s Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) programs have been a top fundraiser for the foundation’s charity walkathon for the past 14 years, raising more than $260,000 since 2008. Proceeds go to the SDBIF and to SDCCE’s ABI Trust Fund, which supports students enrolled in ABI classes with scholarships, nationally-recognized guest speakers, online learning support, field trips, one-to-one assistance, and roller backpacks for students with mobility and balance issues. Heike Kessler-Heiberg, an ABI instructor since 1989 and the Team ABI captain, notes that “Team ABI alone has already raised over $18,000 this year and we are thrilled that this event is going to be held in-person again for the first time in two years.”

Free classes at SDCCE support people recovering from ABI’s such as brain trauma, stroke/aneurysm, brain tumor, brain infection and anoxia.

“SDCCE’s ABI program is everything to me, it changed my life,” said Lauren Furey, SDCCE student, who is looking forward to joining the walk. On September 25, 2016, Furey was diagnosed with an anoxic brain injury with anterograde amnesia.

After trying costly psychosocial rehabilitation for two years, she moved from Albuquerque to San Diego in 2018 to attend the free ABI Program at SDCCE. 

“I was nervous. I did not know what the first day of brain injury school would be like. I wondered if there were others like me,” said Furey, remembering her first semester at SDCCE. “I met another student that day. I will never forget hearing another survivor’s voice, telling me it is okay and that this is where I should be.”

Prior to her diagnosis, Furey attended the University of New Mexico as a psychology major. Due to the acquired brain injury during her junior year and her commitment to rehabilitation, school was put on hold. She explains that the student accommodations given inside SDCCE’s ABI program showed her that continuing a college education is still possible.