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Bill Brown: Making the best of a bad break

by Taryn Thompson
| July 6, 2014 9:00 PM

TWIN LAKES - A simple slip and fall was all it took.

Bill Brown was only a teen when he slid and fell on the pool deck at swim practice, landing hard on his tailbone and - he later learned - breaking a vertebrae and sending a shock up his spine that resulted in a concussion.

It wasn't until decades later that Brown was able to link the injuries he suffered in that accident to the changes he experienced afterward, from suicidal thoughts to anxiety and learning difficulties.

"I was a happy-go-lucky, B and C sort of student," Brown said. "Then I became withdrawn, unable to learn. When you keep bringing F papers home, your dad looks at you like you're the biggest disappointment he's ever seen. Then, you feel worse. It's a spiral."

Though Brown didn't know it at the time, he was experiencing Post Concussion Syndrome. His own experience with PCS and watching others struggle with it, including his own son, led him to write and produce a documentary to raise PCS awareness.

"You could slip and fall on a snowy sidewalk and just kind of land like I did and not even hit your head, but your life will change," Brown said. "If we know that's a possibility, we can approach it as a brain issue and not 'he's just suddenly become a juvenile delinquent.'"

As founder of the Northwest Concussion Organization and through the launching of its website - www.nwconcussions.org - Brown is hoping to share his documentary, "The Hidden Epidemic," with a broader audience. Through the website, parent teacher organizations and other groups will be able to raise money while helping educate parents, teachers, students and others about PCS.

Organizations will be able to earn an amount they set themselves for every person who goes to the website to view "The Hidden Epidemic." A trailer of the film is available on the website.

"I'm excited about that," Brown said. "It's a way to get word out and simultaneously raise funds for these organizations."

A graduate of the University of Southern California's film school - the same class as "Star Wars" director George Lucas - the first feature-length film written, produced and directed by Brown was "Dream Rider."

The movie is based on the real-life story of Bruce Jennings, a young man who lost his leg in a motorcycle accident at age 18 and went on to become the first person to ride a bicycle across the country with one leg. James Earl Jones stars in the movie, helping Jennings through his recovery.

In the years he spent working on the film, Brown became close friends with Jennings. While Brown was writing the script, Jennings twice tried to kill himself.

"I went to the hospital and asked Bruce, 'Why do you do this?' " Brown said. "He said, 'I don't know, Bill, something just comes over me.'"

Brown talked to Jennings' doctors who told him Jennings had PCS.

"They said this PCS happens to many people after a brain injury and the depression that goes with it can seriously get bad," Brown said. "Then dots started to connect for me. ... It was a great relief to finally understand."

Ultimately, Jennings took his own life. The experience, though, had not only given Brown insight into his own teen-aged struggles, but also gave him the tools to help his son, Billy, who suffered PCS after being hit by a water polo ball during practice and twice attempted suicide.

After a close friend's son committed suicide following a concussion and Brown learned his former coach's granddaughter became suicidal after a fall on a diving board, Brown decided to make "The Hidden Epidemic."

"It goes into what PCS is and it helps explain a lot of behaviors in people that are negative and a change from who they were," he said.

Are some people at higher risk for PCS?

Some people are much more susceptible. There's a gene, apolipoprotein. If you have that gene, you're much more likely to suffer PCS. You're also more likely to have Alzheimer's and high cholesterol.

How do you test for the gene?

It's a pretty easy test using saliva. I thought it might be good for athletes in school that kids in sports should have the test and see if they're susceptible. It costs $100 a person.

It would be a wonderful thing for the military to test.

If you have that gene, you don't get to go to combat. They could be a cook or serve in tons of other ways, but keep that person out of combat. So many people are coming back with concussions and Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome and post-concussion problems. The Veteran's Administration hired 23,000 more psychologists last year. Eighty-five percent of the people in prison in the state of Washington say they've had concussions and so do 82 percent of the homeless.

How can you distinguish between PCS being the cause of problems versus other causes, like mental illness?

The best way is to have a SPECT (single-photon emission computerized tomography) scan. That shows which areas of the brain are working too hard and which are working too little.

Is a SPECT scan affordable?

If you're rather wealthy. It's $2,500.

How can you tell if a person is suffering from PCS in the aftermath of an accident?

Doctors say there is a galaxy of symptoms. It could be a change in sensitivity to light and to sound, a change in sleeping habits or eating habits, a change in behavior. It's change you look for. Often, that change says something has changed in the brain.

How long does it take to see those changes?

That's the perplexing thing. It can be right away, like with Billy. The girl that was the hair and makeup artist for 'The Hidden Epidemic' had two concussions as a 6-year-old. The symptoms didn't show up until she went into puberty and her body chemistry changed and then her parents said she became a totally different girl and really out of control, rebellious. Dr. (Daniel) Amen did a SPECT scan on her, found out what it was and she was on her way to healing.

Does the risk of PCS increase if you have more than one concussion?

It compounds. If you've had two or three, it doesn't take much to get another one and it could be the one that tips you over, the straw that breaks the camel's back.

How do you treat PCS?

Rest, and that's difficult. No screens is a good way to describe it. No television, no video. Anything that makes your brain work takes your brain away from the work of healing itself.

How did you get your start making movies?

David Ladd, son of the actor Alan Ladd, was a brother in my fraternity. I was at dinner at their house once and Mrs. Ladd asked, 'Bill what are you studying?' I said I don't know, I'm just here for the swim team. She said why don't you look at the film school. I interviewed for it and got into the film school. It's the way life works.

When were you in film school?

I graduated in '68. I was the last member of my class to direct a feature film. Everyone else did. George Lucas, and there were cool people that weren't cool yet. I used to shower with Tom Selleck and O.J. Simpson, too. We had one shower room for athletes. Tom was a volleyball player and O.J. was a football player.

Where did you go from there?

The Vietnam War was in full swing. I enlisted in the Naval Air Corp, but when I got into the flight training program in Florida they gave me another x-ray. Before you could go on the ejection seat training they do an x-ray of your back. They found from the time I fell that break was in there. They said if you eject you will never walk again.

When I came back from Florida, there was a strike in Hollywood and nothing was happening. I couldn't get a job anywhere. I said, well, I'm not done with swimming yet, maybe I can be a coach. I got a job as a town coach for city of Placentia. One of the parents said I'm an athletic director at the high school, why don't you coach our high school swim team. So I, for the next six years, was a high school swimming and water polo coach, an English teacher and history teacher. That was fun. That was cool. Then I left for nine years and did movie stuff and real estate and promotions and advertising. When I became a single dad I went back to teaching and coaching. I coached Chapman University and taught at high school, too. Along the way they'd give me a leave of absence to make 'Dream Rider.'

What inspired your body of work?

Whether I was teaching or making movie stuff or writing, it was always about helping people understand. I spent so much time in the library in high school when I had my brain injury problems. I would go to the library and I'd try to figure out what was wrong. I was reading everything like Dale Carnegie's "How to Win Friends and Influence People," "Think and Grow Rich," "How To Stop Worrying and Start Living," books like that, trying to fight this anxiety and worry that was constantly in my head. In that process, I learned a lot about human motivation and psychology. The last 10 years of my career, I taught psychology. I loved that. Life evolves and you do this and that.

How did you end up in North Idaho?

I had a friend that retired to Athol. I came up to visit and I said I like this area. The next summer I came up to visit again and that's when I discovered Twin Lakes Village. I said this is what I'm looking for. I can fish. I can play golf. It's a perfect spot. I love it.