June 23, 2025 • 48 mins
In this episode of "Broken Brains," host Bruce Parkman welcomes Alexandra de Roos, a former pre-professional ballerina turned brain injury advocate. Alexandra shares her journey from the prestigious School of American Ballet to her unexpected pivot towards advocacy after a severe concussion ended her dance career. Now a student at the University of South Florida, Alexandra is on a mission to raise awareness about traumatic brain injuries and mental health. She discusses the importance of brain health, the challenges of recovery, and her work with nonprofit organizations like the Blue Project. Tune in to hear her inspiring story of resilience and her efforts to make a meaningful impact in the world of brain injury advocacy.
If you're a veteran, first responder, or someone interested in the future of trauma treatment, this episode is packed with insights and practical knowledge.
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Chapters
[00:00:00] Introduction
[00:02:15] Alexandra's Background
[00:05:30] Concussion Impact
[00:12:45] Recovery Challenges
[00:20:10] Blue Project
[00:28:00] Arts and Healing
[00:35:20] Advocacy Work
[00:42:50] Future Goals
[00:50:30] Conclusion
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LinkedIn: Alexandra de Roos
Website: https://www.alexandraderoos.org/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Hey folks, welcome to another edition of Broken
Brains with Bruce Parkman,sponsored by the Mack Parkman,
the national voice, repetitivebrain trauma, where we look at
the issues of repetitive headimpacts from contact sports and
repetitive blast exposure forour military veterans and what
these conditions are doing tothe brains of our children,
athletes and vets and causingwhat is basically the largest
(00:34):
preventable cause of mentalillness in this country.
And we reach out on these showsto scientists, researchers,
patients, advocates, people whohave suffered in silence, to
come on the show and talk abouttheir experiences so that you
are informed, because this isnot trained in medical, nursing,
psychological curricula, and soyou must take care of you, of
(00:55):
those that you know and thosethat you love, because you're
the first line of defense onthis issue.
Today's guest, another amazingyoung lady who I had the
pleasure of meeting earlier inWashington DC, alexandra DeRuse,
is a multifaceted advocate,dancer and student whose journey
from the ballet stage to braininjury.
(01:16):
Advocacy exemplifies resilienceand purpose, and she does.
A former pre-professionalballerina, alexandra trained at
the prestigious School ofAmerican Ballet in New York City
from age 14 to 18, and herpromising dance career was
unexpectedly halted due to asevere concussion, leading her
(01:37):
to pivot towards advocacy andeducation.
She's currently a student atthe University of South
Florida's Judy Genshaft HonorsCollege, pursuing a double major
in biomedical sciences andpsychology.
Busy young lady and her academicfocus is driven by a goal to
become a neuropsychiatristspecializing in post-concussion
(02:00):
syndrome rehabilitation In 2025,she was crowned Miss Tampa Wow,
good for you.
A title she uses to amplifyawareness about brain injuries
and mental health.
And if that's not enough, she'sthe founder of two non-profit
organizations.
At age eight, she initiatedPeace Love Leotards Inc.
Which provides dancewear andvirtual training to
(02:22):
underprivileged children, aimingto bridge the socioeconomic gap
in the performing arts.
Later, inspired by her ownexperience with TBI, she
established the Blue Projectintegrating neuroscience in the
arts, inc, promoting the healingpower of the arts in brain
trauma recovery.
Through her podcast, the BlueProject podcast, she shares
(02:44):
stories of resilience and mentalhealth awareness, and her
dedication to service andempowerment continues to inspire
many, including myself.
She combines her passion forscience, the arts and advocacy
to make a meaningful impact.
Alexandra, welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Thank you so much for having me today, Bruce.
I'm so excited.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Oh man, I'm beside myself.
This is great.
So we met at the big BIAAfunction in Washington DC and I
got to hear your story severaltimes.
Tell our audience about thisamazing, well, this unfortunate
yet amazing journey that you'vebeen placed on.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
So ballet is something that I consider to be
my first love.
I moved away from home at theage of 14 to live in a dormitory
and train year round at theSchool of American Ballet as a
part of their winter termprogram.
The School of American Ballet isthe feeder school for the New
York City Ballet at LincolnCenter, so it's one of the most
prestigious ballet schools inthe world, and I was so
(03:43):
fortunate to be able to pursuemy dream in this way.
I trained there for five yearsfour years of high school and
then my first year ofundergraduate studies, where I
started at Columbia Universityas a part of their general
studies program.
So I went to school and alsocontinued my ballet training at
the same time, but unfortunatelyduring that year I sustained an
incredibly severe concussionthat I didn't know at the time
(04:06):
would completely change thetrajectory of my life and into
my dance career.
I developed post concussivesyndrome and underwent a year
and a half of post concussivephysical therapy as well as
neuropsychological therapy, andit basically just sparked a fire
in me to create the blueproject and advocate for
traumatic brain injuries and thebrain injury community as a
whole.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
Wow, man, I mean, I mean unfortunately, I mean your,
your career was derailed and,um, you know how did you get
through the darkness?
I mean, here's your dream,right?
Here's your first love, and youknow, and this is taken away
and here you are, you know, anamazing young lady with a bright
future and a plan and all thatyou know.
(04:49):
But you know, how did you getthrough those dark days?
Because I can't imagine thatthere weren't.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
You know, it was all sunshine and brightness after
your incident, I learned thatthe brain actually doesn't
distinguish between emotionaland physical trauma, and so not
(05:19):
only did I have this issue,where I sustained a very severe
concussion and was dealing withthe physical impacts of that,
but I was also dealing with theemotional impacts of basically
the death of a large piece of myidentity.
From the age of two and a half,when anybody asked me who I was,
I always said I'm a dancer,that's what I am, that's just
who I am, and it's somethingthat I loved, and so to
experience that and essentiallylike the death of a part of my
identity, was something that wasreally hard.
I'm not going to lie thisconcussion did spark issues with
my anxiety.
(05:39):
I did experience depressivesymptoms, as so many people do
when they experience a traumaticbrain injury, so it was
something that was verydifficult to go through, but I
was so blessed to have anincredible support system in my
family and friends, and I canconfidently say that if I didn't
have those individuals aroundme that I would not be where I
am today and doing what I amdoing.
(06:00):
My mom was a huge part ofensuring that I healed from this
injury.
She made sure that I was goingto the right doctors that I was
staying happy and healthy.
She told me to find somethingthat I was passionate about,
whether it was a small goal, andjust look towards that goal
every single day, and I thinkthat's something that really
(06:21):
helped me in the midst of myinjury, just kind of get through
this really dark time that Iwas experiencing.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
And that is so important to have those, that
family support system, and weknow just so many people that
have to deal with this, you know, on their own, and it sounds
like you know you're trying toreach those people right now
with with your, with yourconcussion.
Was it immediately diagnosed orwas it something that came on
(06:50):
and all of a sudden you figuredout?
I mean, I had the, you know,jesus knocked out of my head and
I'm, I'm hurting.
How did, how did you determinethat you had had a severe
concussion and not know about it?
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Well, um, I, my concussion was really the result
of a freak accident.
A lot of people ask me oh, alex, did a guy drop you on your
head during partnering class?
And I'm like, well, I wish,because that would be a much
more interesting story to tell.
But I was actually rushing tomy dorm room in between my
classes to change my balletuniform that we had, and I
(07:22):
mistimed shutting the door in myrushing habits and so the door
closed and it hit the left sideof my head right here, and I
didn't pass out.
So I didn't lose consciousness,I didn't throw up, I just got
extremely dizzy.
Well, I feel like most people intheir life have little bumps to
the head here and there, and soI really didn't think much of
(07:43):
it.
But I was on the phone with mymom at the time and I was like,
oh my goodness, I am dizzy, I'mspinning, but I think I'll be
fine.
I have class in 30 minutes andso I'm just going to sit down
for a second and I'm going to goto class and I'm just going to
get through it.
I was in my last year at SAB,so that's the year where we're
really working towards garneringa professional ballet contract,
and so I was in the midst ofhaving directors from all
(08:06):
different parts of the world,all different companies, come in
to observe us, to teach uswhere we could learn from them,
and so I was really focused ongetting a job as opposed to not
really thinking about my headinjury, and the dancers were
taught to push through anyinjuries that we have which
isn't necessarily the healthiesthabit, but that was just
something that I was used to.
So I went to class and it got tothe point where after two days,
(08:30):
I could not see straight lotsdancing.
I was having the biggestheadache, I was dizzy, I was
nauseous and my personalitystarted to change, which I think
was probably one of the biggestindicators that something was
wrong.
My resident assistant at thetime so our AAs that live with
us and help us while we live inthe residence hall just kind of
(08:52):
looked at me and they were likeare you okay?
My speech had sloweddramatically, I was exhausted, I
basically lost the light in myeyes, and so they were very
concerned and they watched meover the course of those days
and finally, after two days,they were like you need to go to
the emergency room.
Something's wrong.
This is not just a typicalknock to the head, alex, you
(09:12):
have to go.
So we went to the emergencyroom and they diagnosed me with
a concussion and they said thatI needed to stop dancing until
my symptoms subsided, whichshould be in about two weeks.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
Dancing until my symptoms subsided, which should
be in about two weeks.
Two weeks, that's the norm,yeah.
The magical, magical two weekswhere all concussions are just
somehow healed, yeah, and I wasjust like okay, that's fine.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
You know, I had had probably every injury that you
could name.
I'd injured my back, my foot,my hip.
So I'm like all right, twoweeks, piece of cake.
I got this.
We'll take some time off andwe'll resume.
Well, I tried to dance againand it was even worse and I just
I couldn't see and nobody saidanything other than just take
more time off.
So at the time New York Citywas experiencing the Omicron
(10:01):
variant of COVID and that wasrunning rampant.
We were dealing with anextended winter break.
So I went home for winter breakand it was about four weeks
long and I stayed there and Irested and I naturally assumed
that at the end of this winterbreak everything would be fine
Again after the sport.
I tried to dance.
(10:21):
I tried to dance, I was ill.
I could not figure out why Iwas as sick as I was, and my
parents were like I think youneed to see a neurologist,
because this sounds likesomething happened that is a lot
bigger than what a lot ofdoctors and physicians are
telling you.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
And you're slightly past the two week magical time
window at this time right.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
I hit my head on november 30th of 2021.
By the time I saw a neurologist, it was the second week of
february wow, yeah, yeah, dangyeah, they tell you that it will
just magically go away.
And you know, I had heard ofconcussions growing up.
I'm just like, oh, you hit yourhead.
It's.
It's the result of that.
(11:03):
I didn't realize and maybe thisis through a mistake of my own.
I consider myself to be prettywell educated, pretty
intelligent Um, I didn't know itwas brain damage.
I didn't know that there wasbruising to my brain with this
concussion.
So that's something that Iemphasize when I talk to people
about traumatic brain injuriesis that with a concussion, you
are having brain damage.
It's not just a little bump tothe head.
(11:24):
And that's something that Ilearned when I did see a
neurologist.
She finally scheduled an MRIand she said it looks like there
had been remnants of brainbruising and brain swelling, and
so that was when she told methat I would need to stop
dancing indefinitely if I wanteda chance to live life normally.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
And so you know we never think of ballet or dance
as being a sport that impactsthe brain, sport that impacts
the brain.
Now, earlier today, we had ayoung lady come on and say you
wouldn't believe the topconcussive sport for females in
this big research study wascheer right, because they're
tossing these girls in the hairand they're laying on their
heads or whatever.
(12:05):
Tell us about ballet, becauseI'm fascinated about this.
First of all, how do you standon your toes with them shoes?
I don't understand how thatstuff works.
And then the the ability to doall those revolutions.
I see the hands snap around.
I mean it is amazing.
But at the same time, with allthat spinning and we talk about
gymnastics and the gyrations andthe g-force that could be
(12:30):
contributing to some of thegymnastic community's mental
health issues from a a braintrauma perspective, talk to us
about ballet and dance.
Nobody gets to talk to a balletdancer.
You know I'm 63 years old.
I never met a ballet dancer inmy life.
So tell us about ballet.
And I mean the regimensupposedly is horrific man.
(12:50):
I mean like this is full on,you know, this is full on combat
man.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
It's one of the most intense.
I don't know whether youconsider it a sport.
I have always considered balletto be an athletic art form.
You can compete, dance indifferent styles at dance
competitions, but to me, dance,and particularly ballet, has
always been an athletic art form, but it is probably the most
rigorous thing.
I believe there was actually astudy that was put out that said
, comparing all of sports andall of the athletic events, that
dance and ballet was thehardest.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
So I would not doubt that, and I will say this I've
never met a fat ballet person orseen one on TV.
All right, so you're burningcalories, man, when you guys are
that fit and that ripped,whether it's a dancer or a
ballet.
And I'm not talking about thesetwerking people that they call
that dancing.
I'm talking about a lifestylethat demands rigor, that demands
(13:44):
attention to detail, that Imean I don't even know how you
memorize all them, hundreds ofmoves, and I mean I'm just, I'm
fascinated by it.
To tell you the truth, I mean Iwent to the Nutcracker every
year with my wife and my familyand I'm just fascinated with
something I don't know anythingabout.
But I'm sorry, go ahead.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
So I'll tell you a little bit of the negative and
I'll tell you a little bit ofthe positive in terms of brain
injury and how it relates tothat.
The negative was that whenyou're very young, as a ballet
dancer, you are taught how tospot your head.
This is great because it meansthat when you rotate and do
pirouettes you don't get dizzy,or it severely eliminates the
dizziness that you experience.
(14:20):
So you leave your head behindfor as long as possible when
you're rotating and then snap itaround very sharply.
Well, if you've experienced aconcussion, this is probably the
exact opposite of what you wantto be doing.
And particularly the two daysafter my concussion, we were
doing ballet variations, so likepieces from ballet performances
(14:44):
that involved a lot ofpirouettes or meneges where you
jump in a circle and rotate.
So I was consistently snappingmy head like this after my
injury.
So that definitely contributedto the extreme injury that I
experienced.
For sure, people with traumaticbrain injuries and neurological
(15:15):
disorders, I'm kind of readingresearch studies that have
already been done and I foundout that dance has actually been
shown to increaseneuroplasticity in the brain,
which is a vital component thatis necessary for healing from
brain injuries Because of likelike you said, we memorize all
of the steps that we have to doand we have to think very
quickly on our feet and all themuscles that we have to engage.
(15:35):
It all comes from our brain.
So this is developing ourneuroplasticity over time and
they're saying that because I'vehad increased neuroplasticity,
that could be contributing tohow I was able to heal so well
from my TBI.
Because my TBI was extremelysevere.
I could not have conversations,I would completely lose my
(15:56):
train of thought, I had a memorystutter, my speech was slowed,
it was terrible.
But now I'm studying biomedicalsciences and I'm talking on
television and on podcasts andadvocating for the brain injury
community.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
So I attribute a lot of that to being a dancer from a
very young age and theincreased neuroplasticity that
gave me no, I, I cannot, I, Ijust I'm just fascinated by the
whole and I and I think it is I,I think your description as as
an athletic art is absolutelyspot on.
I mean, it's uh, anything thatdemands that much rigor, um is
(16:32):
uh, I mean, it is a lifestyleand it must have, from the you
know, from the emotional traumaperspective, the pressure that
you're on under for all, what'syour typical day, you know,
while you know those five yearsthat you were practicing ballet,
I mean you're also going toschool.
What's the?
What's the typical day in aballerina's life for me, when?
(16:54):
Or ballet, yeah, I guess Idon't know what the dudes call
themselves ballet dudes, what?
Speaker 2 (16:59):
but we all refer to ourselves as ballet dancers okay
, across the board across theboard.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
So um yeah okay, so you want me to walk you through
a day no, yeah, just I'll belike I'm sure everybody like me
is kind of fascinated likenobody gets to speak peek into
this world.
I mean, we just know that.
You know, I know that it justseems like there's a lot of I
mean it's hard work, man, it'sreally hard.
You know it's not, you justdon't show up, you know.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
Yeah, no, not at all.
So I would start getting readyfor the day and then we would go
down.
I was really lucky because ourcafeteria that served our dorm
was in the same building, soeverything was all there, and my
ballet studio was also in thesame building, so that was
really nice.
But I would go down, getbreakfast and then I would walk
(17:48):
to school five blocks there andI would attend school classes
for about two and a half hours.
I had two classes in themorning and then I would walk
back to my ballet studio, have aclass in the morning and then
go back to school after eatinglunch in the afternoon, take two
more classes, walk back to theballet studio.
So if you're keeping track anddoing the math, I've walked
about 20 blocks at least everysingle day, which is quite a lot
(18:12):
in addition to the dance, andthen in the afternoon I would
have a second class A balletclass.
Yes, so there would be like aballet technique class in the
morning, and then there would bea point or variations or pas de
deux, which is partnering class, in the afternoon, and then
after that, depending on whatseason we were in, it would be
rehearsals for the rest of theday, or I would be going to
(18:35):
Pilates and I would spendprobably two hours in Pilates
just cross training and makingsure that my body was strong and
fit to be able to handle whatwas going on in the ballet
classroom, and then at night Iwould do all of my homework and
repeat again the next day.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
Yes, you get weekends off.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
No, I had Sunday off Sunday.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
all right, at least they gave you one day off.
Wow, that's amazing, man,that's amazing.
So all right.
So here we are.
Young Alexander is out thereTalk about.
You know a little bit about.
What is your message to anyoneabout?
You know, tbis, what are youadvocating for when you say I'm
do you?
What do you?
What do you?
What are you advocating forwhen you say I'm an advocate?
(19:17):
What do you?
What do you look in the changeright now from you know, from
your, you know from your, fromyour perspective.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
I think the biggest thing with public knowledge is
trying to get people tounderstand that it's vitally
important that we protect ourbrains, because our brains
influence so much of the waythat we not only behave, but the
way that we are physically ableto respond to things, and so I
always say that the brain iskind of like the conductor of
(19:47):
the orchestra, which is the body, and so if your brain's not
healthy, you're not going to beable to do what you need to do
on a daily basis.
And then beyond that, beyondbrain health, if you do
experience a bump to the head orsomething that you think is not
serious, I encourage you totake it seriously, because it's
always better to be safe thansorry.
I wish that I had immediatelytaken my injury seriously and
(20:10):
not danced on it and knew thatthe injury that I experienced
was truly brain damage.
I think that would have changeda lot in the trajectory of my
healing path, but I'm so gladthat I'm able to now talk to
other people about my experience.
So I think that's the biggestthing is just ensuring that
we're taking care of our brainson the daily, but then also
(20:32):
recognizing when these traumaticbrain injuries occur and
getting them checked out as soonas possible.
A little statistic I want tothrow in is that I've noticed
about 50% of concussions gocompletely unreported.
So that's half.
And I think it's important thatthat's out there, because then
you understand how misunderstoodthis injury is and how it's not
(20:52):
being reported nearly enough,as it should be.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
So just yeah, no, that's I mean and and that's
true, I mean a lot of, you know,a lot of people have no idea
that brain health is not apriority in this country.
I mean we, I mean we talkedabout this they check your lungs
, they check your heart, theytap your knee, but you know,
they, they don't, they don't askyou about the brain.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
Well, and the biggest thing is, too, is that we have
a mental health crisis going onin the country.
I believe about one in fiveadults have a mental health
disorder, and when youexperience a brain injury, that
becomes one in two.
So that number drasticallyincreases once you experience a
brain injury, and I always havefound it interesting that you go
to the doctor and you say youhave an injury and they scan
(21:39):
your knee, they scan your back,but they don't scan your brain
as much when you're dealing witha mental health disorder.
So that's why I want to go intoneuropsychiatry, because I want
to see how the physical aspectsof the brain correlate with
emotional responses andreactions.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
And you know and that's a great point, alexandra
because every hospital has anMRI.
They have a functional MRI andthere's other scans out there
QEEG and diffusal tensor imagingscans that can literally see in
the brain and identifyabnormalities.
So I mean, do you thinkscanning should be part of any
(22:15):
mental illness check to see ifthere is a physiological
component to it?
Speaker 2 (22:20):
I do.
I do Absolutely.
I think that scanning shouldjust become a regular part of
like.
We scan so many things in ourbody, especially as we get older
, to screen for thingspreventatively.
I think it's also somethingthat we should be doing
preventatively, if possible,just because then we might gain
more insight into how thephysical components of our brain
affect us emotionally andpsychologically.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
And that's a great point, because if 50% of them
are unreported, most people likeyourself don't even know they
had a concussion Right.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
I mean, I know so many people that are involved in
sports.
My younger brother is a soccerplayer.
That's another sport besidesfootball that is heavily you see
concussions a lot in, and so Ithink that it's really important
that we're making sure that ouryounger athletes especially
because your brain is not fullydeveloped until you're 25, are
getting scans, are monitoringtheir brain health, are making
(23:10):
sure that when they get bumpedin the head or if they're
tackled or if a ball hits them,that they're making sure that
they're okay and that they'renot just brushing it off and
prioritizing the game.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
that they're playing more than the person that's
playing.
You know, I'm finding out thatyounger generations are really
more focused on brain health,like they're just more aware,
and I don't know why.
Why do you think that is Like.
I talked to a lot of youngerfolks and they're like my kids
ain't playing contact sports.
You know they're not hittingsoccer balls.
(23:41):
I mean they're they're they'rethey don't love football the way
you know older generations do,but they're they're much more
focused on, you know, the brain.
Why?
Why do you think that is Causeit's really cool.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
I think so that probably has to do a lot with
conversation and, overall, justus being open.
My younger generation is veryopen about their mental and
emotional struggles and if we'restarting to see a correlation
between physical impacts andthose mental and emotional
struggles, I wouldn't besurprised that my generation is
less likely to be involved incontact sports because they want
to protect their brain, theywant to make sure that they're
(24:14):
not struggling physically,mentally or emotionally.
So I think a lot of it has todo with conversation, which is
why I completely stress theimportance of advocacy and just
having conversations with peoplewho are survivors of these
injuries so we can continue tospread awareness about how
serious these injuries can be.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
Do you think it's also that you know, besides you
know, besides you know they,they.
A lot more conversation withyour generation takes place, you
know, on phones and socialmedia and stuff, but there's, so
that means there's a lot moreof information out there.
Do you think they're just moreinformed too, they're more aware
?
Speaker 2 (24:48):
I think so.
I think as a whole where wehave um a lot of information at
our fingertips.
And course there are thenegative ramifications of social
media I won't deny that butthere's also a lot of positives
in that too.
I mean, personally, as MissTampa and with my nonprofit, the
Blue Project, I have theopportunity to get my message
out on social media to a broaderaudience than I would if I was
(25:10):
just having conversations everysingle day, even though that's
important.
So I think that using socialmedia and creating videos,
creating graphics, just creatingany sort of informational, um
educational source, is somethingthat's really important and I'm
glad that my generationutilizes that.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
Yeah, my producer is laughing right now Cause he's
always after my old butt to makea video, just video.
And I, I, I'm not good atself-promotion, man, I just, I
just want to get the word aroundto talk to you and just have
you talk, right.
But you know, but you're rightand I think, um, we are.
I am so gratified when I talkto younger people about the
(25:48):
issues of rhi and rbe and youknow, I think, I think we're
absolutely moving towards a moreinformed generation that's
going to look at, you know,social, I mean, we just did a
study in Florida and 83% of ourinmates in this study had a
history of 4.2 TBIs and a lot ofthem played contact sports 40
(26:11):
something percent of our juviepopulation has the same
statistical background.
Now we're looking at, you know,how can we change the way we
look at not only brain health,but how?
How can we change in your mind?
Uh, you know public policy onthese issues.
I mean you, you're a, I meanyou, you, you, I mean you're
(26:32):
miss tampa, right, I, I mean youhave a platform.
So how are you using thatplatform and what can we do to
help you?
You know sponsor, becauseyou've talked about making brain
health more aware.
What other fronts are youcontinuing to challenge with
your knowledge on TBI andconcussions?
Speaker 2 (26:52):
So I do a lot with Brain Injury Florida.
Currently I serve on theirBrain Injury Advisory Board,
which is responsible forcreating the Brain Injury State
Action Plan, and with that planwe've developed these work
groups that will be implementingall of our ideas and plans into
the state of Florida to make iteasier for brain injury
survivors to get more adequatecare.
(27:12):
So that's something that I'mkind of doing with another
organization and then justpersonally and with
organizations together, talkingwith our state legislators,
talking with our nationallegislators.
That's why I felt it was soimportant to go to Washington DC
, because you can't know aboutsomething unless someone you
research it or someone sits downand talks to you about it, and
(27:34):
that's why I think personalstories are so important.
So the more that we connect youknow senators that are making
these decisions in our state andnationwide, the more that I
feel that we're going to be ableto have an impact.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
Yeah, no, I mean, and if we look at what the impact
could be on our society if wecould get mental health people
scanned, and then, yeah, I don'tknow how familiar you are, but
all these other modalities thatcan help heal their brain, from
HBOT to, you know, thepsychedelics, the brain
(28:09):
stimulator I don't know ifyou've been to the Brent Genesis
Brain Institute in Tampa.
They've got, yeah, nine or 10different modalities from HBOT
all the way down transcranialmagnetic stimulation,
photobiomodulation that areavailable.
Then you've got brainsupplementation.
I mean, all these things thatcan help heal the brain.
None of them are covered byinsurance, none of them are FDA
approved.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
A huge factor.
Insurance is actually one of thebiggest factors that I usually
talk about when they talk aboutbarriers, because of my own
experience with insurance.
I'm very fortunate to be in aposition where I have access to
insurance, but even with that,when I was undergoing my
post-concussive physical therapy, the insurance companies were
trying to tell my doctorswhether or not I was healed, and
(28:50):
so they were saying, oh, she'shealed, she's fine.
But my doctors were saying, no,she's not, she's still
experiencing symptoms.
So after my physical therapyappointment, I would literally
have to sit there and write downa paragraph of all of the
symptoms I was stillexperiencing and why I was not
completely healed and the tasksthat I could not do every day
that it would be expected thatsomeone who was completely
(29:10):
healed would be able to do, inorder to convince them to get
cover more appointments and tocover more sessions.
That would help me healcompletely.
And so insurance is a hugeaspect, especially with brain
injuries, but with any type ofinjury, and I think that that's
something that we're reallyimportant, or we're really.
I think that's something thatit's important that we're
(29:31):
discussing and it's that wetarget.
That way, other people don'thave to have go through those
same challenging experiences.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
No, and you know you bring up something too, because
you understood, because you'reyour mom and I met your mom and,
like you, she's a force innature, okay, and, and you know
you got, you, you've, you wereboth all over it and, and you
know, after you got hurt.
But you also mentioned thatyour personality changed.
You know, right now there areso many young people that have
(30:01):
personality changes that arebeing labeled mental illness and
, instead of being checked outfor the possibility of a
concussion or a TBI relatedproblem or a lifestyle of
heading soccer balls, whatever,they're given drugs and they're
given drugs and more drugs andthey end up on a lifetime of
(30:22):
these medications.
And here you are, you know,years later, not many years
later back on track, maybe notfulfilling your life dream, but
you have a mission, you have afocus, you're back at school,
you're not on medication.
All these things matter so much.
What's your perspective on?
(30:42):
You know, mental illness is thelargest problem we have with
our young.
I lost my son to mental illness.
Okay, and we are medicating thelive and be Jesus out of all of
our generations.
I mean, we consume 85% ofprescription drugs on the planet
.
Just our country.
It, just our country.
(31:07):
How can we, how and if we couldscan a brain, and, and and and
determine that we have a problemhere?
But and we can help thesepeople much like you helped
yourself, without the drugsright To get back to themselves.
I mean the benefit for societythat this would have.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
Yes.
So, like I said, I want to be aneuropsychiatrist and one of
the things that I really want tolook into is kind of the
positives and negatives of thesedrugs and the effects that they
have on the people that aretaking them.
Because, I will not lie, I hadmajor anxiety disorder, I had a
depressive disorder and it gotto the point where my sports
(31:42):
medicine doctor was veryconcerned.
She went to my mom and she saidI think we need to put her on
an antidepressant, but I want toknow your thoughts on it and I
also want to cross crossreference that with her
neuropsychologist.
So I sat down with myneuropsychologist and he said
yes, you know your mental stateis not looking good, but I want
(32:03):
you to think about this and ifyou can get through this
experience with no drugs of anykind, I want you to try to.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
Good for him or her.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
Yes Wow.
Speaker 1 (32:16):
She actually said oh, they said that that's great.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
Oh, my sports medicine doctor was hesitant.
She said that it might besomething that I wanted to
consider, but she wanted tocross-reference it with my
neuropsychologist and he said ifyou can get through this
experience without going onmedication, I want you to, and
if you need to go on it, thenthat's fine, because mental
health disorders are veryextreme and medications do help
(32:40):
in certain cases.
But over-prescribing thesemedications is also something
you don't want to do, and I willforever be grateful for the
fact that he challenged me andsaw that I could get through
this experience, doing morenatural exercises and just kind
of like monitoring myself andgoing to PT, doing things
without medication, because Inever was on medication and I
(33:03):
completely recovered and I neverexperienced some of the
devastating side effects that wesee from these medications.
So I yes, I'm definitely anadvocate for, if you can avoid
it, to start the natural way.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
And then, of course, if you need it and if it's
necessary and it's really goingto help you in the long run,
then go ahead and take themedication and there's no doubt
that in acute circuit you knowcircumstance, with this suicidal
ideation or whatever there's,there's a reason to start with
these drugs, but there's noreason to have them people on
(33:36):
them for a lifetime.
And we have got, we've made acontinuous you know, an entire
industry out of you know, youknow, and these drugs call side
effects.
So there's a pill for that.
And next thing you know, Italked to veterans all the time
got a bag, you know, a gallonbag of pills that they've got to
take.
I talked to a gentleman theother day, rodeo star, who's you
(33:57):
know, and later on in life he'sgot 26 different pills and
supplements that he has to taketo stay on mother earth.
And it's and it's we.
Yeah, and this happens all thetime.
We are over-medicating asociety of children that have
number one, never had theopportunity, like your doctor
said, to stick this out andlet's get back on your feet or
(34:18):
who could get scanned to see ifthere's a physiological
component to their mentalillness that could be heated,
healed or allowed to heal.
By the way, you had to stopdancing right Because of its
impact on your brain.
So, yeah, I just think I'mhorrified with how we're
approaching mental health herein this country.
Speaker 2 (34:38):
Yes, that's something I keep in mind too.
Going into my future andwanting to be a
neuropsychiatrist, I really dowant to take a look at the way
that these drugs negativelyaffect our population and, like
I said, if it gets to the pointwhere it is necessary to go on
them, then that's amazing.
I'm glad that we have them forpeople that need them, but if we
can solve things in a morenatural way, then I think that's
(34:59):
also a really good thing.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
I have people that are in the psychiatric world and
they literally have a 25%expectation that any drug they
prescribe is actually going towork and then if that doesn't
work, they try something elsetill they find something that
the patient says help me.
And then they're on them andthings like these benzos.
I mean, there's only two thingsthat will kill you that when
(35:24):
you try to come off them alcoholand benzos.
If you're addicted to them andwe prescribe benzos like for
sleeping aids, it's nuts.
But let's talk about you,because you are an amazing young
lady with an amazing story andI just love having you on the
show let's talk about.
So do you still have Peace,love Leotards?
(35:45):
Is that still ongoing Cause?
That sounds like an amazing.
How did you start a nonprofitat eight man?
That is amazing.
Speaker 2 (35:53):
Well it is.
It has currently taken a littlebit of a pause because I am
busy with my schooling and alsowith advocacy, but it is an
organization that I'm incrediblyproud of.
It started as a smallinitiative when I was young,
because dance can be veryexpensive as an art form to get
into and I wanted to find a waythat more people would have
(36:14):
access to the arts and be ableto reap the benefits that they
provide, and one of the maincosts for dance is the dancewear
, and so, at a very young age, Idecided to collect gently used
dancewear and distribute it backout to dancers in need.
I was growing so fast, I'm verytall, and so my mom and I were
talking.
I was just like, what do youthink about collecting dancewear
(36:36):
?
And she's like that's a greatidea.
Like this, this is how much itcosts.
And she kind of like, informedme a little bit more on the
things that I wasn't aware of,and so it just started as a very
small initiative, and then,when I was 16, I incorporated it
into a nonprofit organizationthat went global.
I had a global ambassadorprogram, would collect from all
across the country and send itto our headquarters.
(36:59):
I sent dancewear globally, allthe way to the Philippines.
I had national partnershipswith dancewear sponsors as far
as Australia and France, so itwas an incredible organization
that I am so, so proud to havestarted, and I think it made a
major impact in the lives ofdancers around the world.
Speaker 1 (37:18):
Good for you.
That's amazing, awesome.
And then, if that wasn't up,you got another one here.
So talk to us about the BlueProject.
Obviously, that came out ofthis current experience, this
unfortunate experience with aconcussion.
What do you have going on,what's your focus and what are
you trying to accomplish?
Speaker 2 (37:46):
part of a thesis paper that I was writing.
During my freshman year ofcollege I had a class called
Acquisition of Knowledge andthey took us on a trip to the
Dolly Museum in St Petersburgand I stumbled across a painting
called the Broken Bridge andthe Dream, and it's a bridge
that has, in my opinion, littleghost-like dancers floating
across it.
And when I saw that I wasovercome with emotion and almost
had this visceral reactionwhich had never really happened
(38:06):
to me before.
But it made me reflect on myexperience with my injury and
just all the things that hadhappened in my life and it kind
of made me wonder can healingand the arts somehow be
connected in some way,especially for those with
traumatic brain injuries andneurological disorders?
So luckily, the thesis paper wehad to write for that class we
could pick whatever topic wewanted.
(38:28):
So I dove headfirst into thatand I started reading a bunch of
literature and research papersthat had been conducted and I
found that the arts areextremely beneficial for
everyone, but for people withtraumatic brain injuries and
neurological disorders.
So, like I talked about earlier, dance increasing
neuroplasticity in the brain.
It's also been shown that musichas reduced stress and
(38:49):
concussed athletes, and thecreation of artwork helps with
the reformulation of identityand sense of self after a brain
injury or neurological disorder.
And then with coloring, whichis something I find so
fascinating because I've lovedto color since I was little.
Coloring has been shown tolower cortisol, which is the
stress hormone in the brain andbody, so that really facilitates
(39:10):
a more positive mental health.
So that's why, actually, I havea coloring book coming out on
May 18th on Amazon and that'swhy I created that, so that way
it shows your cortisol levels.
Speaker 1 (39:23):
I'll tell you what.
All right, so we had this andyou are 100% correct.
So Denny brought on this arttherapist person.
I'm like what am I going totell an art therapist?
What am I going to talk about?
On brains, we had a fascinatingconversation and now I'm
laughing because I have beengiving my friends so much guff
(39:45):
when I see a 50-year-old manwith a coloring book.
I'm like will you grow up?
I mean no kidding, we have this.
We've been very blessed.
I have a ski house inBreckenridge and one day we have
these.
All these people come up to ski.
They're all French, and one dayI looked at the table and
there's eight grownups coloring.
Speaker 2 (40:08):
And.
I'm, and there's eightgrown-ups color and I'm like I
love it.
I love it, but it really helps.
I mean well, things that I didduring my brain injury was paint
.
Speaker 1 (40:13):
I had no idea, you know cortisol levels or whatever
.
Now I've got to go back and sayall right, give me your
coloring book, you know, go inhere, give me fred flintstone or
something man.
So that is fascinating and I,you know, going to give me Fred
Flintstone or something man.
So that is fascinating and I,you know.
But you are absolutely right.
From a recovery perspective,those therapies and again, like
(40:33):
you know, some of the treatmentsyou might've went through, and
a lot of treatments that we talkabout on this show, nobody
knows about them, like they're,they're so hard to find, they're
so hard to find people that youknow can help.
You know, add, you knowpatients with them.
I mean, but if you do find themand I'll tell everybody that's
listening right now to Alexanderman, if you can find, if you're
(40:54):
, if you're hurting and I don'tthink it's just it, just mental
illness alone these modalitiescan help you process without
pills and find some purpose.
I mean some of these people,I've seen some of the paintings
that these veterans have paintedbefore.
I mean, I was like, oh my God,I was at an ayahuasca facility
and there was a picture of aveteran in a circle with a young
(41:16):
Afghani child, and this was avision that the soldier had
under ayahuasca and he paintedit and it was so realistic,
right, and they were surroundedby an aura.
There was so much love in thereand he's got his rifle, his
nods, his helmet, and there wasthis young child and he was
trying to protect the child.
Yet he's got to protect us.
(41:38):
I mean, these are the crazysituations we put our people in,
you know, but you, I mean thatis absolutely amazing that
you've been able to put this alltogether.
Well, Alexander.
So, as we close the show, let'stalk about uh.
First of all, ms Tampa, didthey teach you how to do the
parade wave, or is that?
Speaker 2 (41:56):
just so I actually one time I was.
I've been in quite a fewparades over and um.
You know, everyone always kindof expects you to wave like this
, like that at all.
Someone actually said why don'tyou show us your real wave?
Because I was waving like this.
I have like a little spasticwave, but I love it.
(42:18):
I think it's fun.
I like interacting withchildren and waving to them like
that.
So, uh, no, nobody taught methat.
I came up with my own littlefunny way.
Your.
Speaker 1 (42:26):
Your own.
So the Alexander wave Good onyou, man, and uh, yeah, that's
good.
I um, yeah, the uh, I thinkthat is amazing.
So this is the type of this isthe part of show we want you to
talk about yourself what do youhave going on?
Um, what's next?
And how can people find you sothat they can stay in touch with
you, however, that you know,however, they can.
Speaker 2 (42:49):
Okay, so I'm going to go through on Instagram I am
Alexandra Del Toros and the bluedot project, and so you'll find
my nonprofit there, and then mywebsite is wwwalexandradorosorg
.
And on Facebook you'll find mejust at Alexandra Durose or the
Blue Project.
So it's pretty simple, prettystraightforward.
(43:09):
And then I have a lot of funthings coming up.
I will be competing for MissFlorida at the end of June and
I'm really excited for thatbecause I get to bring brain
injuries.
My nonprofit is my communityservice initiative, so that's
what I spend my year talkingabout and advocating for.
So when I go to compete at MissFlorida, I get to bring brain
injuries to that statewide stagewhich I'm so excited about.
(43:32):
So that's coming up.
Preparing for that actuallyhave orientation this weekend,
which is so exciting.
But I'm also a member of theSpeakers Bureau for the Brain
Injury Association of America,so I am able to speak and give
speeches across the state andvirtually across the nation.
I'll actually I can fly too,but I've spoken to students
(43:54):
across the country.
I just recently did apresentation at Dallas College
in Texas, which is reallyexciting, so I'm available to
speak.
I'd love to be contacted tospeak to your students.
Speaker 1 (44:05):
All right, we have our summit on repetitive brain
trauma coming up on September3rd and 4th.
We'll definitely get youinvites.
Are you going to the BIAconference next week in Lake
Nona?
Speaker 2 (44:14):
Yes, I'm hoping to.
Speaker 1 (44:16):
Ah good, all right, well, I'll see you there.
We'll go ahead and catch up onthere.
So, no, well, thank you so muchfor the time.
Alexander, your commitment notonly to yourself, right, and we
have to take care of ourselvesbut your commitment to others
that have suffered, you know,from brain injuries, and your
ongoing drive to make thingsbetter.
You are the type of justcitizens that we need.
(44:37):
You know, and it's so amazing.
You know a lot of us olderpeople poo-poo our younger
generations and they're like, ah, they're not tough.
You know what our youngergenerations are.
They're full of love, and Iwill tell you this For the first
time.
You know my generation.
I'm the last of the boomers.
Right, we were raised by somepretty tough cats and a lot of
(44:57):
us raised our kids like that.
I was not one of those, familywas not one of those, but I do
think that you know the lack ofyou know, perceived toughness of
our generation is actuallybecause these newer generations
is because they're more full oflove, and we need love, because
love is the true power in thisworld and without it we are not
(45:18):
going to get far.
So hats off to you and yourgeneration for bringing love
into this world and to continueto push on it, because we need a
lot more Alexandria DeRusso's.
I'll tell you that right now.
Speaker 2 (45:29):
Thank you so much and thank you so much for having me
on your show today.
I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (45:33):
No, I love it.
Another great episode.
I love having these young kidson the show.
Danny, let's get some moreyoung kids on the show.
Man, this is amazing man.
So hey want to say once againthe summit's coming up 3rd and
4th September, please.
It's on our website.
Better be on our website.
I was talking to the staff.
Today.
We're going to have an amazingline of speakers, the only
summit on repetitive braintrauma in the country.
(45:54):
Don't forget your free book.
Go to our website, wwwmpfactorg, get your downloaded copy.
Our HeadSmart app is on theGoogle Store and the Apple Store
.
You can find me on Twitter atBruceMacParkman and really
remember, like us, share us,subscribe to us, put the word
out all you can, but take careof those brains.
You only got one and it's allyou're going to be, so take care
(46:18):
of it.
God bless you all.
We'll see you on the nextepisode of Broken Brains.
Take care.
Hey folks, welcome to another edition of Broken
Brains with Bruce Parkman,sponsored by the Mack Parkman,
the national voice, repetitivebrain trauma, where we look at
the issues of repetitive headimpacts from contact sports and
repetitive blast exposure forour military veterans and what
these conditions are doing tothe brains of our children,
athletes and vets and causingwhat is basically the largest
(00:34):
preventable cause of mentalillness in this country.
And we reach out on these showsto scientists, researchers,
patients, advocates, people whohave suffered in silence, to
come on the show and talk abouttheir experiences so that you
are informed, because this isnot trained in medical, nursing,
psychological curricula, and soyou must take care of you, of
(00:55):
those that you know and thosethat you love, because you're
the first line of defense onthis issue.
Today's guest, another amazingyoung lady who I had the
pleasure of meeting earlier inWashington DC, alexandra DeRuse,
is a multifaceted advocate,dancer and student whose journey
from the ballet stage to braininjury.
(01:16):
Advocacy exemplifies resilienceand purpose, and she does.
A former pre-professionalballerina, alexandra trained at
the prestigious School ofAmerican Ballet in New York City
from age 14 to 18, and herpromising dance career was
unexpectedly halted due to asevere concussion, leading her
(01:37):
to pivot towards advocacy andeducation.
She's currently a student atthe University of South
Florida's Judy Genshaft HonorsCollege, pursuing a double major
in biomedical sciences andpsychology.
Busy young lady and her academicfocus is driven by a goal to
become a neuropsychiatristspecializing in post-concussion
(02:00):
syndrome rehabilitation In 2025,she was crowned Miss Tampa Wow,
good for you.
A title she uses to amplifyawareness about brain injuries
and mental health.
And if that's not enough, she'sthe founder of two non-profit
organizations.
At age eight, she initiatedPeace Love Leotards Inc.
Which provides dancewear andvirtual training to
(02:22):
underprivileged children, aimingto bridge the socioeconomic gap
in the performing arts.
Later, inspired by her ownexperience with TBI, she
established the Blue Projectintegrating neuroscience in the
arts, inc, promoting the healingpower of the arts in brain
trauma recovery.
Through her podcast, the BlueProject podcast, she shares
(02:44):
stories of resilience and mentalhealth awareness, and her
dedication to service andempowerment continues to inspire
many, including myself.
She combines her passion forscience, the arts and advocacy
to make a meaningful impact.
Alexandra, welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Thank you so much for having me today, Bruce.
I'm so excited.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Oh man, I'm beside myself.
This is great.
So we met at the big BIAAfunction in Washington DC and I
got to hear your story severaltimes.
Tell our audience about thisamazing, well, this unfortunate
yet amazing journey that you'vebeen placed on.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
So ballet is something that I consider to be
my first love.
I moved away from home at theage of 14 to live in a dormitory
and train year round at theSchool of American Ballet as a
part of their winter termprogram.
The School of American Ballet isthe feeder school for the New
York City Ballet at LincolnCenter, so it's one of the most
prestigious ballet schools inthe world, and I was so
(03:43):
fortunate to be able to pursuemy dream in this way.
I trained there for five yearsfour years of high school and
then my first year ofundergraduate studies, where I
started at Columbia Universityas a part of their general
studies program.
So I went to school and alsocontinued my ballet training at
the same time, but unfortunatelyduring that year I sustained an
incredibly severe concussionthat I didn't know at the time
(04:06):
would completely change thetrajectory of my life and into
my dance career.
I developed post concussivesyndrome and underwent a year
and a half of post concussivephysical therapy as well as
neuropsychological therapy, andit basically just sparked a fire
in me to create the blueproject and advocate for
traumatic brain injuries and thebrain injury community as a
whole.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
Wow, man, I mean, I mean unfortunately, I mean your,
your career was derailed and,um, you know how did you get
through the darkness?
I mean, here's your dream,right?
Here's your first love, and youknow, and this is taken away
and here you are, you know, anamazing young lady with a bright
future and a plan and all thatyou know.
(04:49):
But you know, how did you getthrough those dark days?
Because I can't imagine thatthere weren't.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
You know, it was all sunshine and brightness after
your incident, I learned thatthe brain actually doesn't
distinguish between emotionaland physical trauma, and so not
(05:19):
only did I have this issue,where I sustained a very severe
concussion and was dealing withthe physical impacts of that,
but I was also dealing with theemotional impacts of basically
the death of a large piece of myidentity.
From the age of two and a half,when anybody asked me who I was,
I always said I'm a dancer,that's what I am, that's just
who I am, and it's somethingthat I loved, and so to
experience that and essentiallylike the death of a part of my
identity, was something that wasreally hard.
I'm not going to lie thisconcussion did spark issues with
my anxiety.
(05:39):
I did experience depressivesymptoms, as so many people do
when they experience a traumaticbrain injury, so it was
something that was verydifficult to go through, but I
was so blessed to have anincredible support system in my
family and friends, and I canconfidently say that if I didn't
have those individuals aroundme that I would not be where I
am today and doing what I amdoing.
(06:00):
My mom was a huge part ofensuring that I healed from this
injury.
She made sure that I was goingto the right doctors that I was
staying happy and healthy.
She told me to find somethingthat I was passionate about,
whether it was a small goal, andjust look towards that goal
every single day, and I thinkthat's something that really
(06:21):
helped me in the midst of myinjury, just kind of get through
this really dark time that Iwas experiencing.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
And that is so important to have those, that
family support system, and weknow just so many people that
have to deal with this, you know, on their own, and it sounds
like you know you're trying toreach those people right now
with with your, with yourconcussion.
Was it immediately diagnosed orwas it something that came on
(06:50):
and all of a sudden you figuredout?
I mean, I had the, you know,jesus knocked out of my head and
I'm, I'm hurting.
How did, how did you determinethat you had had a severe
concussion and not know about it?
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Well, um, I, my concussion was really the result
of a freak accident.
A lot of people ask me oh, alex, did a guy drop you on your
head during partnering class?
And I'm like, well, I wish,because that would be a much
more interesting story to tell.
But I was actually rushing tomy dorm room in between my
classes to change my balletuniform that we had, and I
(07:22):
mistimed shutting the door in myrushing habits and so the door
closed and it hit the left sideof my head right here, and I
didn't pass out.
So I didn't lose consciousness,I didn't throw up, I just got
extremely dizzy.
Well, I feel like most people intheir life have little bumps to
the head here and there, and soI really didn't think much of
(07:43):
it.
But I was on the phone with mymom at the time and I was like,
oh my goodness, I am dizzy, I'mspinning, but I think I'll be
fine.
I have class in 30 minutes andso I'm just going to sit down
for a second and I'm going to goto class and I'm just going to
get through it.
I was in my last year at SAB,so that's the year where we're
really working towards garneringa professional ballet contract,
and so I was in the midst ofhaving directors from all
(08:06):
different parts of the world,all different companies, come in
to observe us, to teach uswhere we could learn from them,
and so I was really focused ongetting a job as opposed to not
really thinking about my headinjury, and the dancers were
taught to push through anyinjuries that we have which
isn't necessarily the healthiesthabit, but that was just
something that I was used to.
So I went to class and it got tothe point where after two days,
(08:30):
I could not see straight lotsdancing.
I was having the biggestheadache, I was dizzy, I was
nauseous and my personalitystarted to change, which I think
was probably one of the biggestindicators that something was
wrong.
My resident assistant at thetime so our AAs that live with
us and help us while we live inthe residence hall just kind of
(08:52):
looked at me and they were likeare you okay?
My speech had sloweddramatically, I was exhausted, I
basically lost the light in myeyes, and so they were very
concerned and they watched meover the course of those days
and finally, after two days,they were like you need to go to
the emergency room.
Something's wrong.
This is not just a typicalknock to the head, alex, you
(09:12):
have to go.
So we went to the emergencyroom and they diagnosed me with
a concussion and they said thatI needed to stop dancing until
my symptoms subsided, whichshould be in about two weeks.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
Dancing until my symptoms subsided, which should
be in about two weeks.
Two weeks, that's the norm,yeah.
The magical, magical two weekswhere all concussions are just
somehow healed, yeah, and I wasjust like okay, that's fine.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
You know, I had had probably every injury that you
could name.
I'd injured my back, my foot,my hip.
So I'm like all right, twoweeks, piece of cake.
I got this.
We'll take some time off andwe'll resume.
Well, I tried to dance againand it was even worse and I just
I couldn't see and nobody saidanything other than just take
more time off.
So at the time New York Citywas experiencing the Omicron
(10:01):
variant of COVID and that wasrunning rampant.
We were dealing with anextended winter break.
So I went home for winter breakand it was about four weeks
long and I stayed there and Irested and I naturally assumed
that at the end of this winterbreak everything would be fine
Again after the sport.
I tried to dance.
(10:21):
I tried to dance, I was ill.
I could not figure out why Iwas as sick as I was, and my
parents were like I think youneed to see a neurologist,
because this sounds likesomething happened that is a lot
bigger than what a lot ofdoctors and physicians are
telling you.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
And you're slightly past the two week magical time
window at this time right.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
I hit my head on november 30th of 2021.
By the time I saw a neurologist, it was the second week of
february wow, yeah, yeah, dangyeah, they tell you that it will
just magically go away.
And you know, I had heard ofconcussions growing up.
I'm just like, oh, you hit yourhead.
It's.
It's the result of that.
(11:03):
I didn't realize and maybe thisis through a mistake of my own.
I consider myself to be prettywell educated, pretty
intelligent Um, I didn't know itwas brain damage.
I didn't know that there wasbruising to my brain with this
concussion.
So that's something that Iemphasize when I talk to people
about traumatic brain injuriesis that with a concussion, you
are having brain damage.
It's not just a little bump tothe head.
(11:24):
And that's something that Ilearned when I did see a
neurologist.
She finally scheduled an MRIand she said it looks like there
had been remnants of brainbruising and brain swelling, and
so that was when she told methat I would need to stop
dancing indefinitely if I wanteda chance to live life normally.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
And so you know we never think of ballet or dance
as being a sport that impactsthe brain, sport that impacts
the brain.
Now, earlier today, we had ayoung lady come on and say you
wouldn't believe the topconcussive sport for females in
this big research study wascheer right, because they're
tossing these girls in the hairand they're laying on their
heads or whatever.
(12:05):
Tell us about ballet, becauseI'm fascinated about this.
First of all, how do you standon your toes with them shoes?
I don't understand how thatstuff works.
And then the the ability to doall those revolutions.
I see the hands snap around.
I mean it is amazing.
But at the same time, with allthat spinning and we talk about
gymnastics and the gyrations andthe g-force that could be
(12:30):
contributing to some of thegymnastic community's mental
health issues from a a braintrauma perspective, talk to us
about ballet and dance.
Nobody gets to talk to a balletdancer.
You know I'm 63 years old.
I never met a ballet dancer inmy life.
So tell us about ballet.
And I mean the regimensupposedly is horrific man.
(12:50):
I mean like this is full on,you know, this is full on combat
man.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
It's one of the most intense.
I don't know whether youconsider it a sport.
I have always considered balletto be an athletic art form.
You can compete, dance indifferent styles at dance
competitions, but to me, dance,and particularly ballet, has
always been an athletic art form, but it is probably the most
rigorous thing.
I believe there was actually astudy that was put out that said
, comparing all of sports andall of the athletic events, that
dance and ballet was thehardest.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
So I would not doubt that, and I will say this I've
never met a fat ballet person orseen one on TV.
All right, so you're burningcalories, man, when you guys are
that fit and that ripped,whether it's a dancer or a
ballet.
And I'm not talking about thesetwerking people that they call
that dancing.
I'm talking about a lifestylethat demands rigor, that demands
(13:44):
attention to detail, that Imean I don't even know how you
memorize all them, hundreds ofmoves, and I mean I'm just, I'm
fascinated by it.
To tell you the truth, I mean Iwent to the Nutcracker every
year with my wife and my familyand I'm just fascinated with
something I don't know anythingabout.
But I'm sorry, go ahead.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
So I'll tell you a little bit of the negative and
I'll tell you a little bit ofthe positive in terms of brain
injury and how it relates tothat.
The negative was that whenyou're very young, as a ballet
dancer, you are taught how tospot your head.
This is great because it meansthat when you rotate and do
pirouettes you don't get dizzy,or it severely eliminates the
dizziness that you experience.
(14:20):
So you leave your head behindfor as long as possible when
you're rotating and then snap itaround very sharply.
Well, if you've experienced aconcussion, this is probably the
exact opposite of what you wantto be doing.
And particularly the two daysafter my concussion, we were
doing ballet variations, so likepieces from ballet performances
(14:44):
that involved a lot ofpirouettes or meneges where you
jump in a circle and rotate.
So I was consistently snappingmy head like this after my
injury.
So that definitely contributedto the extreme injury that I
experienced.
For sure, people with traumaticbrain injuries and neurological
(15:15):
disorders, I'm kind of readingresearch studies that have
already been done and I foundout that dance has actually been
shown to increaseneuroplasticity in the brain,
which is a vital component thatis necessary for healing from
brain injuries Because of likelike you said, we memorize all
of the steps that we have to doand we have to think very
quickly on our feet and all themuscles that we have to engage.
(15:35):
It all comes from our brain.
So this is developing ourneuroplasticity over time and
they're saying that because I'vehad increased neuroplasticity,
that could be contributing tohow I was able to heal so well
from my TBI.
Because my TBI was extremelysevere.
I could not have conversations,I would completely lose my
(15:56):
train of thought, I had a memorystutter, my speech was slowed,
it was terrible.
But now I'm studying biomedicalsciences and I'm talking on
television and on podcasts andadvocating for the brain injury
community.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
So I attribute a lot of that to being a dancer from a
very young age and theincreased neuroplasticity that
gave me no, I, I cannot, I, Ijust I'm just fascinated by the
whole and I and I think it is I,I think your description as as
an athletic art is absolutelyspot on.
I mean, it's uh, anything thatdemands that much rigor, um is
(16:32):
uh, I mean, it is a lifestyleand it must have, from the you
know, from the emotional traumaperspective, the pressure that
you're on under for all, what'syour typical day, you know,
while you know those five yearsthat you were practicing ballet,
I mean you're also going toschool.
What's the?
What's the typical day in aballerina's life for me, when?
(16:54):
Or ballet, yeah, I guess Idon't know what the dudes call
themselves ballet dudes, what?
Speaker 2 (16:59):
but we all refer to ourselves as ballet dancers okay
, across the board across theboard.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
So um yeah okay, so you want me to walk you through
a day no, yeah, just I'll belike I'm sure everybody like me
is kind of fascinated likenobody gets to speak peek into
this world.
I mean, we just know that.
You know, I know that it justseems like there's a lot of I
mean it's hard work, man, it'sreally hard.
You know it's not, you justdon't show up, you know.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
Yeah, no, not at all.
So I would start getting readyfor the day and then we would go
down.
I was really lucky because ourcafeteria that served our dorm
was in the same building, soeverything was all there, and my
ballet studio was also in thesame building, so that was
really nice.
But I would go down, getbreakfast and then I would walk
(17:48):
to school five blocks there andI would attend school classes
for about two and a half hours.
I had two classes in themorning and then I would walk
back to my ballet studio, have aclass in the morning and then
go back to school after eatinglunch in the afternoon, take two
more classes, walk back to theballet studio.
So if you're keeping track anddoing the math, I've walked
about 20 blocks at least everysingle day, which is quite a lot
(18:12):
in addition to the dance, andthen in the afternoon I would
have a second class A balletclass.
Yes, so there would be like aballet technique class in the
morning, and then there would bea point or variations or pas de
deux, which is partnering class, in the afternoon, and then
after that, depending on whatseason we were in, it would be
rehearsals for the rest of theday, or I would be going to
(18:35):
Pilates and I would spendprobably two hours in Pilates
just cross training and makingsure that my body was strong and
fit to be able to handle whatwas going on in the ballet
classroom, and then at night Iwould do all of my homework and
repeat again the next day.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
Yes, you get weekends off.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
No, I had Sunday off Sunday.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
all right, at least they gave you one day off.
Wow, that's amazing, man,that's amazing.
So all right.
So here we are.
Young Alexander is out thereTalk about.
You know a little bit about.
What is your message to anyoneabout?
You know, tbis, what are youadvocating for when you say I'm
do you?
What do you?
What do you?
What are you advocating forwhen you say I'm an advocate?
(19:17):
What do you?
What do you look in the changeright now from you know, from
your, you know from your, fromyour perspective.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
I think the biggest thing with public knowledge is
trying to get people tounderstand that it's vitally
important that we protect ourbrains, because our brains
influence so much of the waythat we not only behave, but the
way that we are physically ableto respond to things, and so I
always say that the brain iskind of like the conductor of
(19:47):
the orchestra, which is the body, and so if your brain's not
healthy, you're not going to beable to do what you need to do
on a daily basis.
And then beyond that, beyondbrain health, if you do
experience a bump to the head orsomething that you think is not
serious, I encourage you totake it seriously, because it's
always better to be safe thansorry.
I wish that I had immediatelytaken my injury seriously and
(20:10):
not danced on it and knew thatthe injury that I experienced
was truly brain damage.
I think that would have changeda lot in the trajectory of my
healing path, but I'm so gladthat I'm able to now talk to
other people about my experience.
So I think that's the biggestthing is just ensuring that
we're taking care of our brainson the daily, but then also
(20:32):
recognizing when these traumaticbrain injuries occur and
getting them checked out as soonas possible.
A little statistic I want tothrow in is that I've noticed
about 50% of concussions gocompletely unreported.
So that's half.
And I think it's important thatthat's out there, because then
you understand how misunderstoodthis injury is and how it's not
(20:52):
being reported nearly enough,as it should be.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
So just yeah, no, that's I mean and and that's
true, I mean a lot of, you know,a lot of people have no idea
that brain health is not apriority in this country.
I mean we, I mean we talkedabout this they check your lungs
, they check your heart, theytap your knee, but you know,
they, they don't, they don't askyou about the brain.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
Well, and the biggest thing is, too, is that we have
a mental health crisis going onin the country.
I believe about one in fiveadults have a mental health
disorder, and when youexperience a brain injury, that
becomes one in two.
So that number drasticallyincreases once you experience a
brain injury, and I always havefound it interesting that you go
to the doctor and you say youhave an injury and they scan
(21:39):
your knee, they scan your back,but they don't scan your brain
as much when you're dealing witha mental health disorder.
So that's why I want to go intoneuropsychiatry, because I want
to see how the physical aspectsof the brain correlate with
emotional responses andreactions.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
And you know and that's a great point, alexandra
because every hospital has anMRI.
They have a functional MRI andthere's other scans out there
QEEG and diffusal tensor imagingscans that can literally see in
the brain and identifyabnormalities.
So I mean, do you thinkscanning should be part of any
(22:15):
mental illness check to see ifthere is a physiological
component to it?
Speaker 2 (22:20):
I do.
I do Absolutely.
I think that scanning shouldjust become a regular part of
like.
We scan so many things in ourbody, especially as we get older
, to screen for thingspreventatively.
I think it's also somethingthat we should be doing
preventatively, if possible,just because then we might gain
more insight into how thephysical components of our brain
affect us emotionally andpsychologically.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
And that's a great point, because if 50% of them
are unreported, most people likeyourself don't even know they
had a concussion Right.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
I mean, I know so many people that are involved in
sports.
My younger brother is a soccerplayer.
That's another sport besidesfootball that is heavily you see
concussions a lot in, and so Ithink that it's really important
that we're making sure that ouryounger athletes especially
because your brain is not fullydeveloped until you're 25, are
getting scans, are monitoringtheir brain health, are making
(23:10):
sure that when they get bumpedin the head or if they're
tackled or if a ball hits them,that they're making sure that
they're okay and that they'renot just brushing it off and
prioritizing the game.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
that they're playing more than the person that's
playing.
You know, I'm finding out thatyounger generations are really
more focused on brain health,like they're just more aware,
and I don't know why.
Why do you think that is Like.
I talked to a lot of youngerfolks and they're like my kids
ain't playing contact sports.
You know they're not hittingsoccer balls.
(23:41):
I mean they're they're they'rethey don't love football the way
you know older generations do,but they're they're much more
focused on, you know, the brain.
Why?
Why do you think that is Causeit's really cool.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
I think so that probably has to do a lot with
conversation and, overall, justus being open.
My younger generation is veryopen about their mental and
emotional struggles and if we'restarting to see a correlation
between physical impacts andthose mental and emotional
struggles, I wouldn't besurprised that my generation is
less likely to be involved incontact sports because they want
to protect their brain, theywant to make sure that they're
(24:14):
not struggling physically,mentally or emotionally.
So I think a lot of it has todo with conversation, which is
why I completely stress theimportance of advocacy and just
having conversations with peoplewho are survivors of these
injuries so we can continue tospread awareness about how
serious these injuries can be.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
Do you think it's also that you know, besides you
know, besides you know they,they.
A lot more conversation withyour generation takes place, you
know, on phones and socialmedia and stuff, but there's, so
that means there's a lot moreof information out there.
Do you think they're just moreinformed too, they're more aware
?
Speaker 2 (24:48):
I think so.
I think as a whole where wehave um a lot of information at
our fingertips.
And course there are thenegative ramifications of social
media I won't deny that butthere's also a lot of positives
in that too.
I mean, personally, as MissTampa and with my nonprofit, the
Blue Project, I have theopportunity to get my message
out on social media to a broaderaudience than I would if I was
(25:10):
just having conversations everysingle day, even though that's
important.
So I think that using socialmedia and creating videos,
creating graphics, just creatingany sort of informational, um
educational source, is somethingthat's really important and I'm
glad that my generationutilizes that.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
Yeah, my producer is laughing right now Cause he's
always after my old butt to makea video, just video.
And I, I, I'm not good atself-promotion, man, I just, I
just want to get the word aroundto talk to you and just have
you talk, right.
But you know, but you're rightand I think, um, we are.
I am so gratified when I talkto younger people about the
(25:48):
issues of rhi and rbe and youknow, I think, I think we're
absolutely moving towards a moreinformed generation that's
going to look at, you know,social, I mean, we just did a
study in Florida and 83% of ourinmates in this study had a
history of 4.2 TBIs and a lot ofthem played contact sports 40
(26:11):
something percent of our juviepopulation has the same
statistical background.
Now we're looking at, you know,how can we change the way we
look at not only brain health,but how?
How can we change in your mind?
Uh, you know public policy onthese issues.
I mean you, you're a, I meanyou, you, you, I mean you're
(26:32):
miss tampa, right, I, I mean youhave a platform.
So how are you using thatplatform and what can we do to
help you?
You know sponsor, becauseyou've talked about making brain
health more aware.
What other fronts are youcontinuing to challenge with
your knowledge on TBI andconcussions?
Speaker 2 (26:52):
So I do a lot with Brain Injury Florida.
Currently I serve on theirBrain Injury Advisory Board,
which is responsible forcreating the Brain Injury State
Action Plan, and with that planwe've developed these work
groups that will be implementingall of our ideas and plans into
the state of Florida to make iteasier for brain injury
survivors to get more adequatecare.
(27:12):
So that's something that I'mkind of doing with another
organization and then justpersonally and with
organizations together, talkingwith our state legislators,
talking with our nationallegislators.
That's why I felt it was soimportant to go to Washington DC
, because you can't know aboutsomething unless someone you
research it or someone sits downand talks to you about it, and
(27:34):
that's why I think personalstories are so important.
So the more that we connect youknow senators that are making
these decisions in our state andnationwide, the more that I
feel that we're going to be ableto have an impact.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
Yeah, no, I mean, and if we look at what the impact
could be on our society if wecould get mental health people
scanned, and then, yeah, I don'tknow how familiar you are, but
all these other modalities thatcan help heal their brain, from
HBOT to, you know, thepsychedelics, the brain
(28:09):
stimulator I don't know ifyou've been to the Brent Genesis
Brain Institute in Tampa.
They've got, yeah, nine or 10different modalities from HBOT
all the way down transcranialmagnetic stimulation,
photobiomodulation that areavailable.
Then you've got brainsupplementation.
I mean, all these things thatcan help heal the brain.
None of them are covered byinsurance, none of them are FDA
approved.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
A huge factor.
Insurance is actually one of thebiggest factors that I usually
talk about when they talk aboutbarriers, because of my own
experience with insurance.
I'm very fortunate to be in aposition where I have access to
insurance, but even with that,when I was undergoing my
post-concussive physical therapy, the insurance companies were
trying to tell my doctorswhether or not I was healed, and
(28:50):
so they were saying, oh, she'shealed, she's fine.
But my doctors were saying, no,she's not, she's still
experiencing symptoms.
So after my physical therapyappointment, I would literally
have to sit there and write downa paragraph of all of the
symptoms I was stillexperiencing and why I was not
completely healed and the tasksthat I could not do every day
that it would be expected thatsomeone who was completely
(29:10):
healed would be able to do, inorder to convince them to get
cover more appointments and tocover more sessions.
That would help me healcompletely.
And so insurance is a hugeaspect, especially with brain
injuries, but with any type ofinjury, and I think that that's
something that we're reallyimportant, or we're really.
I think that's something thatit's important that we're
(29:31):
discussing and it's that wetarget.
That way, other people don'thave to have go through those
same challenging experiences.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
No, and you know you bring up something too, because
you understood, because you'reyour mom and I met your mom and,
like you, she's a force innature, okay, and, and you know
you got, you, you've, you wereboth all over it and, and you
know, after you got hurt.
But you also mentioned thatyour personality changed.
You know, right now there areso many young people that have
(30:01):
personality changes that arebeing labeled mental illness and
, instead of being checked outfor the possibility of a
concussion or a TBI relatedproblem or a lifestyle of
heading soccer balls, whatever,they're given drugs and they're
given drugs and more drugs andthey end up on a lifetime of
(30:22):
these medications.
And here you are, you know,years later, not many years
later back on track, maybe notfulfilling your life dream, but
you have a mission, you have afocus, you're back at school,
you're not on medication.
All these things matter so much.
What's your perspective on?
(30:42):
You know, mental illness is thelargest problem we have with
our young.
I lost my son to mental illness.
Okay, and we are medicating thelive and be Jesus out of all of
our generations.
I mean, we consume 85% ofprescription drugs on the planet
.
Just our country.
It, just our country.
(31:07):
How can we, how and if we couldscan a brain, and, and and and
determine that we have a problemhere?
But and we can help thesepeople much like you helped
yourself, without the drugsright To get back to themselves.
I mean the benefit for societythat this would have.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
Yes.
So, like I said, I want to be aneuropsychiatrist and one of
the things that I really want tolook into is kind of the
positives and negatives of thesedrugs and the effects that they
have on the people that aretaking them.
Because, I will not lie, I hadmajor anxiety disorder, I had a
depressive disorder and it gotto the point where my sports
(31:42):
medicine doctor was veryconcerned.
She went to my mom and she saidI think we need to put her on
an antidepressant, but I want toknow your thoughts on it and I
also want to cross crossreference that with her
neuropsychologist.
So I sat down with myneuropsychologist and he said
yes, you know your mental stateis not looking good, but I want
(32:03):
you to think about this and ifyou can get through this
experience with no drugs of anykind, I want you to try to.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
Good for him or her.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
Yes Wow.
Speaker 1 (32:16):
She actually said oh, they said that that's great.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
Oh, my sports medicine doctor was hesitant.
She said that it might besomething that I wanted to
consider, but she wanted tocross-reference it with my
neuropsychologist and he said ifyou can get through this
experience without going onmedication, I want you to, and
if you need to go on it, thenthat's fine, because mental
health disorders are veryextreme and medications do help
(32:40):
in certain cases.
But over-prescribing thesemedications is also something
you don't want to do, and I willforever be grateful for the
fact that he challenged me andsaw that I could get through
this experience, doing morenatural exercises and just kind
of like monitoring myself andgoing to PT, doing things
without medication, because Inever was on medication and I
(33:03):
completely recovered and I neverexperienced some of the
devastating side effects that wesee from these medications.
So I yes, I'm definitely anadvocate for, if you can avoid
it, to start the natural way.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
And then, of course, if you need it and if it's
necessary and it's really goingto help you in the long run,
then go ahead and take themedication and there's no doubt
that in acute circuit you knowcircumstance, with this suicidal
ideation or whatever there's,there's a reason to start with
these drugs, but there's noreason to have them people on
(33:36):
them for a lifetime.
And we have got, we've made acontinuous you know, an entire
industry out of you know, youknow, and these drugs call side
effects.
So there's a pill for that.
And next thing you know, Italked to veterans all the time
got a bag, you know, a gallonbag of pills that they've got to
take.
I talked to a gentleman theother day, rodeo star, who's you
(33:57):
know, and later on in life he'sgot 26 different pills and
supplements that he has to taketo stay on mother earth.
And it's and it's we.
Yeah, and this happens all thetime.
We are over-medicating asociety of children that have
number one, never had theopportunity, like your doctor
said, to stick this out andlet's get back on your feet or
(34:18):
who could get scanned to see ifthere's a physiological
component to their mentalillness that could be heated,
healed or allowed to heal.
By the way, you had to stopdancing right Because of its
impact on your brain.
So, yeah, I just think I'mhorrified with how we're
approaching mental health herein this country.
Speaker 2 (34:38):
Yes, that's something I keep in mind too.
Going into my future andwanting to be a
neuropsychiatrist, I really dowant to take a look at the way
that these drugs negativelyaffect our population and, like
I said, if it gets to the pointwhere it is necessary to go on
them, then that's amazing.
I'm glad that we have them forpeople that need them, but if we
can solve things in a morenatural way, then I think that's
(34:59):
also a really good thing.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
I have people that are in the psychiatric world and
they literally have a 25%expectation that any drug they
prescribe is actually going towork and then if that doesn't
work, they try something elsetill they find something that
the patient says help me.
And then they're on them andthings like these benzos.
I mean, there's only two thingsthat will kill you that when
(35:24):
you try to come off them alcoholand benzos.
If you're addicted to them andwe prescribe benzos like for
sleeping aids, it's nuts.
But let's talk about you,because you are an amazing young
lady with an amazing story andI just love having you on the
show let's talk about.
So do you still have Peace,love Leotards?
(35:45):
Is that still ongoing Cause?
That sounds like an amazing.
How did you start a nonprofitat eight man?
That is amazing.
Speaker 2 (35:53):
Well it is.
It has currently taken a littlebit of a pause because I am
busy with my schooling and alsowith advocacy, but it is an
organization that I'm incrediblyproud of.
It started as a smallinitiative when I was young,
because dance can be veryexpensive as an art form to get
into and I wanted to find a waythat more people would have
(36:14):
access to the arts and be ableto reap the benefits that they
provide, and one of the maincosts for dance is the dancewear
, and so, at a very young age, Idecided to collect gently used
dancewear and distribute it backout to dancers in need.
I was growing so fast, I'm verytall, and so my mom and I were
talking.
I was just like, what do youthink about collecting dancewear
(36:36):
?
And she's like that's a greatidea.
Like this, this is how much itcosts.
And she kind of like, informedme a little bit more on the
things that I wasn't aware of,and so it just started as a very
small initiative, and then,when I was 16, I incorporated it
into a nonprofit organizationthat went global.
I had a global ambassadorprogram, would collect from all
across the country and send itto our headquarters.
(36:59):
I sent dancewear globally, allthe way to the Philippines.
I had national partnershipswith dancewear sponsors as far
as Australia and France, so itwas an incredible organization
that I am so, so proud to havestarted, and I think it made a
major impact in the lives ofdancers around the world.
Speaker 1 (37:18):
Good for you.
That's amazing, awesome.
And then, if that wasn't up,you got another one here.
So talk to us about the BlueProject.
Obviously, that came out ofthis current experience, this
unfortunate experience with aconcussion.
What do you have going on,what's your focus and what are
you trying to accomplish?
Speaker 2 (37:46):
part of a thesis paper that I was writing.
During my freshman year ofcollege I had a class called
Acquisition of Knowledge andthey took us on a trip to the
Dolly Museum in St Petersburgand I stumbled across a painting
called the Broken Bridge andthe Dream, and it's a bridge
that has, in my opinion, littleghost-like dancers floating
across it.
And when I saw that I wasovercome with emotion and almost
had this visceral reactionwhich had never really happened
(38:06):
to me before.
But it made me reflect on myexperience with my injury and
just all the things that hadhappened in my life and it kind
of made me wonder can healingand the arts somehow be
connected in some way,especially for those with
traumatic brain injuries andneurological disorders?
So luckily, the thesis paper wehad to write for that class we
could pick whatever topic wewanted.
(38:28):
So I dove headfirst into thatand I started reading a bunch of
literature and research papersthat had been conducted and I
found that the arts areextremely beneficial for
everyone, but for people withtraumatic brain injuries and
neurological disorders.
So, like I talked about earlier, dance increasing
neuroplasticity in the brain.
It's also been shown that musichas reduced stress and
(38:49):
concussed athletes, and thecreation of artwork helps with
the reformulation of identityand sense of self after a brain
injury or neurological disorder.
And then with coloring, whichis something I find so
fascinating because I've lovedto color since I was little.
Coloring has been shown tolower cortisol, which is the
stress hormone in the brain andbody, so that really facilitates
(39:10):
a more positive mental health.
So that's why, actually, I havea coloring book coming out on
May 18th on Amazon and that'swhy I created that, so that way
it shows your cortisol levels.
Speaker 1 (39:23):
I'll tell you what.
All right, so we had this andyou are 100% correct.
So Denny brought on this arttherapist person.
I'm like what am I going totell an art therapist?
What am I going to talk about?
On brains, we had a fascinatingconversation and now I'm
laughing because I have beengiving my friends so much guff
(39:45):
when I see a 50-year-old manwith a coloring book.
I'm like will you grow up?
I mean no kidding, we have this.
We've been very blessed.
I have a ski house inBreckenridge and one day we have
these.
All these people come up to ski.
They're all French, and one dayI looked at the table and
there's eight grownups coloring.
Speaker 2 (40:08):
And.
I'm, and there's eightgrown-ups color and I'm like I
love it.
I love it, but it really helps.
I mean well, things that I didduring my brain injury was paint
.
Speaker 1 (40:13):
I had no idea, you know cortisol levels or whatever
.
Now I've got to go back and sayall right, give me your
coloring book, you know, go inhere, give me fred flintstone or
something man.
So that is fascinating and I,you know, going to give me Fred
Flintstone or something man.
So that is fascinating and I,you know.
But you are absolutely right.
From a recovery perspective,those therapies and again, like
(40:33):
you know, some of the treatmentsyou might've went through, and
a lot of treatments that we talkabout on this show, nobody
knows about them, like they're,they're so hard to find, they're
so hard to find people that youknow can help.
You know, add, you knowpatients with them.
I mean, but if you do find themand I'll tell everybody that's
listening right now to Alexanderman, if you can find, if you're
(40:54):
, if you're hurting and I don'tthink it's just it, just mental
illness alone these modalitiescan help you process without
pills and find some purpose.
I mean some of these people,I've seen some of the paintings
that these veterans have paintedbefore.
I mean, I was like, oh my God,I was at an ayahuasca facility
and there was a picture of aveteran in a circle with a young
(41:16):
Afghani child, and this was avision that the soldier had
under ayahuasca and he paintedit and it was so realistic,
right, and they were surroundedby an aura.
There was so much love in thereand he's got his rifle, his
nods, his helmet, and there wasthis young child and he was
trying to protect the child.
Yet he's got to protect us.
(41:38):
I mean, these are the crazysituations we put our people in,
you know, but you, I mean thatis absolutely amazing that
you've been able to put this alltogether.
Well, Alexander.
So, as we close the show, let'stalk about uh.
First of all, ms Tampa, didthey teach you how to do the
parade wave, or is that?
Speaker 2 (41:56):
just so I actually one time I was.
I've been in quite a fewparades over and um.
You know, everyone always kindof expects you to wave like this
, like that at all.
Someone actually said why don'tyou show us your real wave?
Because I was waving like this.
I have like a little spasticwave, but I love it.
(42:18):
I think it's fun.
I like interacting withchildren and waving to them like
that.
So, uh, no, nobody taught methat.
I came up with my own littlefunny way.
Your.
Speaker 1 (42:26):
Your own.
So the Alexander wave Good onyou, man, and uh, yeah, that's
good.
I um, yeah, the uh, I thinkthat is amazing.
So this is the type of this isthe part of show we want you to
talk about yourself what do youhave going on?
Um, what's next?
And how can people find you sothat they can stay in touch with
you, however, that you know,however, they can.
Speaker 2 (42:49):
Okay, so I'm going to go through on Instagram I am
Alexandra Del Toros and the bluedot project, and so you'll find
my nonprofit there, and then mywebsite is wwwalexandradorosorg
.
And on Facebook you'll find mejust at Alexandra Durose or the
Blue Project.
So it's pretty simple, prettystraightforward.
(43:09):
And then I have a lot of funthings coming up.
I will be competing for MissFlorida at the end of June and
I'm really excited for thatbecause I get to bring brain
injuries.
My nonprofit is my communityservice initiative, so that's
what I spend my year talkingabout and advocating for.
So when I go to compete at MissFlorida, I get to bring brain
injuries to that statewide stagewhich I'm so excited about.
(43:32):
So that's coming up.
Preparing for that actuallyhave orientation this weekend,
which is so exciting.
But I'm also a member of theSpeakers Bureau for the Brain
Injury Association of America,so I am able to speak and give
speeches across the state andvirtually across the nation.
I'll actually I can fly too,but I've spoken to students
(43:54):
across the country.
I just recently did apresentation at Dallas College
in Texas, which is reallyexciting, so I'm available to
speak.
I'd love to be contacted tospeak to your students.
Speaker 1 (44:05):
All right, we have our summit on repetitive brain
trauma coming up on September3rd and 4th.
We'll definitely get youinvites.
Are you going to the BIAconference next week in Lake
Nona?
Speaker 2 (44:14):
Yes, I'm hoping to.
Speaker 1 (44:16):
Ah good, all right, well, I'll see you there.
We'll go ahead and catch up onthere.
So, no, well, thank you so muchfor the time.
Alexander, your commitment notonly to yourself, right, and we
have to take care of ourselvesbut your commitment to others
that have suffered, you know,from brain injuries, and your
ongoing drive to make thingsbetter.
You are the type of justcitizens that we need.
(44:37):
You know, and it's so amazing.
You know a lot of us olderpeople poo-poo our younger
generations and they're like, ah, they're not tough.
You know what our youngergenerations are.
They're full of love, and Iwill tell you this For the first
time.
You know my generation.
I'm the last of the boomers.
Right, we were raised by somepretty tough cats and a lot of
(44:57):
us raised our kids like that.
I was not one of those, familywas not one of those, but I do
think that you know the lack ofyou know, perceived toughness of
our generation is actuallybecause these newer generations
is because they're more full oflove, and we need love, because
love is the true power in thisworld and without it we are not
(45:18):
going to get far.
So hats off to you and yourgeneration for bringing love
into this world and to continueto push on it, because we need a
lot more Alexandria DeRusso's.
I'll tell you that right now.
Speaker 2 (45:29):
Thank you so much and thank you so much for having me
on your show today.
I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (45:33):
No, I love it.
Another great episode.
I love having these young kidson the show.
Danny, let's get some moreyoung kids on the show.
Man, this is amazing man.
So hey want to say once againthe summit's coming up 3rd and
4th September, please.
It's on our website.
Better be on our website.
I was talking to the staff.
Today.
We're going to have an amazingline of speakers, the only
summit on repetitive braintrauma in the country.
(45:54):
Don't forget your free book.
Go to our website, wwwmpfactorg, get your downloaded copy.
Our HeadSmart app is on theGoogle Store and the Apple Store
.
You can find me on Twitter atBruceMacParkman and really
remember, like us, share us,subscribe to us, put the word
out all you can, but take careof those brains.
You only got one and it's allyou're going to be, so take care
(46:18):
of it.
God bless you all.
We'll see you on the nextepisode of Broken Brains.
Take care.
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