Life changed in the blink of an eye for the world class professional skier following a horrific crash on the slopes. Here she shares her traumatic brain injury story with Emma Chesworth.
Jamie MoCrazy saw her life change in an instant while she was competing in the World Tour Finals in Whistler, Canada in April 2015.
Aged 22, she was at the top of the slopestyle freestyle skiing world, when she suffered a massive crash at the Finals, causing her brain to bleed in eight spots and paralysis on her right side.
For Jamie, skiing had been her life. She says: “I started skiing as soon as I could walk.
My whole family skied so it was a lifestyle for me. I also competed in gymnastics as a young child and I dreamed of combining skiing and gymnastics. When I learned about slopestyle and halfpipe skiing, two kinds of freestyle skiing, that dream became a reality.”
Jamie, from Park City, Utah, went on to be a world cup professional skier competing at international competitions including the Dew Tour, X Games and the AFP World Championships.
Following her life-changing crash eight years ago, Jamie’s challenge changed from competing to surviving.
She says: “I had almost no chance of survival. When I did wake up from the coma I had to relearn all my basic gross motor skills. As my memory returned it never really crossed my mind that I wouldn’t continue to recover. I had torn knee ligaments before and I felt it was the same recovery.
“When I couldn’t walk I made decisions and attainable goals to build the habits that would rewire my brain to allow me to regain mobility.
“It was much harder for me to continue my cognitive and emotional recoveries after my visible deficits were healed.”
Jamie’s family were key to her recovery journey and it was her sister who created the hashtag #MoCrazyStrong in the days following her accident.
MoCrazy Strong is now a non-profit organisation raising awareness of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and methods to recover.
“My sister Jeanee started the hashtag while I was in hospital on life support to bring together my supporters and fans from around the world.
“After my accident we started being asked to give educated peer-to-peer guidance to TBI survivors and family caregivers,” says 30-year-old Jamie.
Jamie (right) with her mum, and sister Jeanee.
In autumn 2022, the charitable foundation was established and continues to support people with a TBI as well as changing education, policy and protocol for TBI survivors and caregivers.
Jamie adds: “The main comments we receive is that in TBI recovery, after you leave hospital, there is no road map and there are not enough opportunities for the amount of time it takes to have a complete recovery.
“Part of the lack of a road map is what MoCrazy Strong has been doing with our peer to peer mentorship. We start working with families in the acute hospital stages and continue for years of recovery.
“We learned that people don’t know what opportunities are available post-acute care and often there are no opportunities so it has pushed us to start advocating for change to address these concerns.
“Currently there are 28 states that have a small amount of federal funding that goes to organisations helping TBI recovery post-acute care. The fact that in a first-world country like the United States, TBI survivors are not given the opportunities needed to make a full recovery is not acceptable and needs to change.”
In February they had the world premiere of their documentary #MoCrazyStrong at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival and it went on to win an award for Best Biographical Short at the Atlanta DocuFest.
Jamie says: “We have more film festivals lined up as well as speaking engagements. My mom and I went to Washington DC to screen our documentary on Capitol Hill and we spoke in front of TBI policy makers.”
There are plans to expand the work of the foundation.
“We would like to create a TBI peer to peer curriculum to certify TBI peer to peer specialists around the US and ultimately around the world,” says Jamie.
“We want to continue to change the narrative around TBI recovery and help increase opportunities for TBI survivors and caregivers.”
It is perhaps unsurprising that Jamie uses a snow analogy to explain her view to recovery.
“When you are climbing up the mountain of life, sometimes you are hit by a metaphorical avalanche. An unexpected life trauma slides you down the mountain and deposits you at the bottom.
“You have two choices: stay stuck at the bottom or climb an alternative peak.
“Climbing an alternative peak means rebuilding your identity and creating a life you love while thinking creatively to use your changes to your advantage.
“Sometimes alternative peaks have even more amazing views than the mountain you were originally climbing.
“However, you will never see the views on your alternative peak if you stay at the bottom and never take the first step.”
Find out more about MoCrazy Strong here.
