About Tom
Tom survived his accident in 2013 when his life changed and he sustained a life-changing TBI. Two years later he was trying to help others by founding and managing The Friends of Littleton Disability Support Group which ran for four years. This included a weekly support group and activities to help foster friendships and teach life skills for people to stay safe while managing their daily lives. During this same time, he turned to dance, a lifelong passion, and owned Balance Through Ballroom. Through this program, he helped people gain improved posture and balance changing the lives of many who took his classes.
In 2019 Tom became a Volunteer Lobbyist for the State of Colorado. He advocated for the disabled community, specifically focusing on more dynamic and comprehensive care for people with traumatic brain injuries. Although no new legislation passes, he informed and educated numerous Colorado State politicians and policymakers about TBIs and his own lived experience.
This same year Tom was invited to join the Craig Hospital Sail Research Program. He oversaw the exit classes and support group for other research participants for about five months after the research program concluded.
Tom was able to provide testimonies for the Kessler Foundation during a one-year study about people with TBIs in 2021.
In 2022 Tom participated and provided feedback in a Emergency Department Concussion Care class for the Brain Injury Association of America.
Currently Tom is volunteering as an Ambassador for the Model Systems Knowledge Translation Center (MSKTC.org).
Tom is a certified Peer Mentor Brain Injury Specialist. He has also written three books, which you can purchase here. He also is part of the Kessler Foundation.
In April 2023, Tom joined a research study at the University of Denver that studies the effects of Covid19/Concussion. He will be participating for five years and the research study has 130 participants.
Disclaimer
This webpage is here to help you with the tips, tricks, and tools that will help you live with TBI. We want to give you ideas on how to navigate the daily changes with TBI and help provoke your imagination to help you negotiate through the day.
TBIvisual.com is not an online support group nor a solution-driven web page! It is a collection of real-life experiences from many people with TBI. The moment-by-moment daily survival skills and thoughts which has given endurance to others with TBI are inside this website, no textbook theory or options from the general public, just us!
I am hoping that this web will be a good friend of yours and fill the space between support groups and doctor visits.
TBI can also mean Tremendously Beautiful Individual.
May this web page be one of your sources of balance and endurance.
Sincerely,
Tom Quinlan and friends
Tom Quinlan has had the “un-welcomed companion” of TBI due to a Hit and Run ( I was the pedestrian hit from behind) many years ago and losing everything and everybody. Tom’s purpose is not to create or accept a “New Normal” for his life but to be Tom with TBI and not a TBI Tom.