Meet MSKTC Ambassador Eric Li
- Eric Li
Eric loves turtles. They may be slow and quiet, but they are tough and determined. In their spirit he finds a lesson of resilience.
He has a fascination with license plates and finding patterns in randomness. His favorite foods are fish and chips, and he relishes Persian and Turkish cuisine. When he has a hard time voicing his feelings, he finds a way to express himself through doodling and art. Eric sometimes visits lakes and rivers as a form of therapy. Submerging himself drowns out the noise of the world and helps him feel renewed and revitalized.
Eric Li’s Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Journey
Eric Li lives and is able to thrive with a left frontal hemorrhage and diffuse axonal injury (DAI). For him, one of the greatest challenges of living with a TBI is that it is an “invisible injury.” In the early days, it was invisible even to himself. He would often stare into the mirror and feel disconnected from his reflection. Not being able to define why tasks that were once simple were suddenly so difficult was something he struggled with. He found that his emotions had become volatile, going from feeling hopeful and bright one minute to feeling broken and depressed the next. By holding onto hope he felt he could then learn to recover and accept his new self.
Eric endured fatigue and even blamed himself for his condition, but through time, reflection, and studying resources such as those from MSKTC, he was able to refurbish himself.
By learning to communicate the reality of his injury and recognize the accommodations that help him promote his success, Erics’ confidence and quality of life improved. He has found that most people are understanding and willing to accommodate. When he has trouble finding the best way to communicate his needs, he’s found there is usually an MSKTC resource that can help him.
Through the TBI community resources he has found building blocks to help rebuild his life and renew his identity. Eric now enjoys contributing back to the community by sharing resources and building connections.
What does Eric Li think of the quality, usefulness, and user-friendliness of the MSKTC resources?
MSKTC is a rich resource that has been useful to Eric’s recovery. The layout of the website is easy to navigate and intuitive. He most often finds use for the fact sheets and finds the infocomics both educational and entertaining. MSKTC demonstrates its compassion and care by providing resources in different languages to benefit as many people as possible. Eric shares the MSKTC resources often and with excitement as he trusts it will help others through their recovery, as it did for him.
Why does Eric Li want to be an MSKTC ambassador?
Eric wants to become an MSKTC ambassador so he may continue promoting and advancing awareness of its resources to improve the lives of people both in the US and Canada.
What has Eric done as an MSKTC ambassador?
As an MSKTC Ambassador, Eric shares resources with anyone who can benefit. He finds as much value in sharing the MSKTC resources with people outside of the injury community as with those within. Educating everyday people on TBIs and its accommodations is a valuable way to pass forward the helpful information. MSKTC is truly a one of kind organization.