It's official: Houston Loves IN THEIR BOOTS

Amanda Spain, the producer of our latest film "Fractured Minds," was in Houston for a special premiere screening Wednesday evening. The topic of the film is Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). The Department of Defense estimates as many as 360,000 men and women in uniform will come home with a TBI, and we are still struggling to understand the causes, symptoms, and treatments for this complicated condition.

Fractured Minds follows veterans through their treatment in the Houston-based Project Victory Program, a collaborative effort by TIRR Foundation and TIRR Memorial Hermann which helps wounded service members recover and successfully integrate back into the community. The film features four veterans living with TBI, including Claudia’s efforts to maintain her relationship with the daughter she doesn’t remember giving birth to, Daniel’s dedication to retrain his brain to compute math problems that used to come easy to him, Mark’s battle to conquer his injury-induced stuttering, and Bob’s drive to become a motivational speaker after surviving a life-threatening brain injury in Iraq. Through these personal stories of struggle and triumph, we begin to understand the diversity and complexity of TBI in veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

The event was a hit for all who attended, and with a reporter from the Houston Chronicle in attendance, many people in Texas will take some time to reflect on what it is to live with a Traumatic Brain Injury in the coming weeks. That is exactly what our tour aims to do.