A Quest for Tears: Surviving Traumatic Brain Injury

Seán Dwyer is an author of award-winning nonfiction and fiction, both novels and stories. He is also a college professor of Spanish and speaks four other languages and is a songwriter as well. A publisher was waiting for his debut novel manuscript when, in a matter of seconds, Seán's teaching and writing careers were put on hold. Rear-ended at 50 mph when he stopped at a crosswalk, Seán suffered two concussions in two seconds. His brain injury left him unable to read or write for more than a few minutes at a time. His light sensitivity required him to use dark glasses at all times. He was unable to work for six months, and when he resumed teaching, he still experienced balance issues and could not grade papers. Neurologists told him that whatever healing his brain accomplished in one year would be the extent of his improvement, and he would have to accept his new life. And yet, at the twenty-one-month mark, his brain healed enough that he could go outdoors without sunglasses. Many of the challenging symptoms have lessened over the nearly six years since the accident. In part as brain therapy, but also as emotional therapy, and from a desire to help others with TBI, Seán wrote a memoir of his recovery, A Quest for Tears: Surviving Traumatic Brain Injury. He needed more than three years to write as many words as he could write in three months prior to his accident, but as the project became a potential source of support and information for other TBI Survivors, Seán became more determined to finish the book. It was published September 1, 2019. Seán has had fiction published in Clover: A Literary Rag, as well as in several anthologies of short fiction. He is president of Whatcom Writers and Publishers and a member of Red Wheelbarrow Writers of Bellingham, Washington.