Triathlete wants to inspire hope with book on healing from traumatic brain injury

TAMPA, Fla. - Imagine being in the prime of your life, going out for jog with your husband, training for a triathlon, when a car comes and crashes into you. The world as you knew it is never the same. 

That happened to a woman who was left with a traumatic brain injury. Kristen Abello took the trials and tribulations of recovery and put it in a book called "Sunrise: Life After a Traumatic Injury. A Healing Journey."

What does she remember about that day? 

"Absolutely nothing," she said. "What was told to me over the years, I went out or run. It was our last training run for the Chicago Marine Corps Marathon, and we laced up our shoes. My husband and I were about half a mile into it, took a right on the sidewalk and we went to the median of the road."

That’s whey a car slammed into them.

The initial prognosis was not good. Doctors said Abello was not supposed to make it 48 hours.

But she did. She faced years of physical and mental rehabilitation. But the hardest part was not being able to hold her toddler, who was almost 2 at the time.

She said she looked OK from the outside, but inside she struggled every day due to a traumatic brain injury.

"I knew when I came out of this, I wanted to give back and help others that are going through this trauma. I wanted to give them hope," she said.

The book is available on Amazon.