About Us
Maddie's Story
Maddie Walter’s life changed dramatically on May 8, 2015 at the age of 16 when she fell 30 feet from a rock outcropping and suffered a severe and extensive traumatic brain injury (TBI). She was in a coma for 2 weeks and in the ICU for a month at Children's Hospital in Boston, MA and then in rehab for 3 months at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Charlestown, MA.
Her recovery required that she relearn how to walk, talk, eat, smile, and laugh. At the time of her accident, she was a varsity lacrosse player and captain of the varsity field hockey team at Westwood High School in Westwood, MA. An excellent student and friend of many, she lost nearly everything in her fall.
Throughout her recovery, Maddie has embraced many different therapies and has worked hard to overcome the deficits brought on by her accident. Unfortunately, many of these therapies were not covered by insurance and her family's search for financial assistance through grant programs yielded very few options. Wanting the best for Maddie, her family took on the financial burden associated with exploring different therapies which was offset, in part, by the generous financial assistance of family, friends, neighbors, the Westwood community and beyond.
Life Goes On After TBI was created by Maddie and her family to pay forward the support they were fortunate to receive, to give back to the TBI community and to offer hope, inspiration and financial assistance to other TBI survivors. Life Goes On After TBI is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization and all donations are tax deductible.
Mission and Vision
Life Goes On seeks to help traumatic brain injury (TBI) survivors. We believe that if we can come together through fundraising, educating and distributing grants, we can help restore TBI survivors' confidence, strength and self-esteem, while helping to relieve their financial burden to tackle the road ahead. We aim to distribute grants directly to impacted survivors in addition to increasing awareness of TBI through public speaking, education and fundraising efforts.