Cross-Country Bike Ride To Raise Brain Injury Awareness to End in Ocean County

The finish line is in sight for Doug Markgraf, a traumatic brain injury (TBI) survivor who is due arrive in Toms River August 21 after cycling across the country alone to raise money and awareness for TBI. Markgraf chose the location to highlight the work of Health South Rehabilitation Hospital of Toms River.

“Ocean County is very lucky to have an acute rehabilitation hospital,” said Denice Gaffney, director of Marketing Operations at Health South. “Not everyone has that level of care available to them locally.”

“We’re hoping to connect Doug with our brain injury survivors and our therapy team,” she said.

Markgraf, of Philadelphia, has been meeting with TBI survivors throughout the trip and was five miles outside Smyrna, Ohio when Patch talked to him Thursday afternoon. 

“It’s blown me away that people who need that extra boost are getting it by me riding and meeting them,” said Markgraf.

The 25 year old was an engineering student at Drexel University in May 2006 when he was training for a cycling event and was hit by a driver who left the scene. He doesn’t remember the accident or anything that happened for a month afterwards, but he does know that the helmet he was wearing saved his life. That’s why he’s riding with five helmets attached to the back of his bike, he said--to remind people how important and easy it is to wear one.

“Just like everyone else who has brain injury, I struggle a lot with memory,” said Markgraf. “I quickly lose the ability to remember some conversations I have with people. Numbers sometimes confuse me.” 

He uses memory tricks to retain important information so effectively now that he sometimes forgets he’s doing it, he said.

“I also struggle a lot with mental fatigue, so if I’ve been stressing about a certain thing that’s very difficult for me to figure out, by the time I’ve spent a couple hours trying to figure this out, I’ll just lose the ability to function,” he added. “I lose orientation and that’s when I know I have to go to bed.”

The kind of care Health South offers was key to Markgraf’s recovery. 

“I failed a lot of classes [after returning to college] and decided to change my career to education and solve problems on that realm,” said Markgraf.

It took a number of people to convince him that changing his life was okay. These included counselors, family, and friends.

“They finally just said, ‘Doug, you can trust yourself. ...Trusting myself was probably one of the hardest things I ever had to cope with, for the fact that I had to be comfortable with whatever changes had happened,” said Markgraf.

Now he teaches kids how to build robots, and will be working with first graders in the coming school year, he said. 

A team of doctors, nurses, case managers, and therapists develops an individualized treatment plan in consultation with patients and their families at Health South, said Gaffney.

“That’s why it’s so important to have your rehab at home, so you’re supported by your friends and family. It makes a huge difference in people’s outcomes,” she said.

Markgraf said he has no physical challenges riding his bike. In fact, the thought of riding again was a primary motivator in his recovery and the reason he chose to raise money for Raisin Hope, a TBI foundation begun by competitive cyclist Saul Raisin. Raisin suffered a TBI three weeks before Markgraf and Margraf followed Raisin's recovery on his blog.

“He was really like my support group. I could always rely on competing with him to see who could recover faster,” said Markgraf.

“We’re actually really good friends now,” he said.

Markgraf has raised approximately $4500 so far, some of which has funded his trip. You can donate to the effort here.

“I feel everyone else’s fear for when I ride,” he said, and keeps his family and friends updated through his blog and on Twitter. 

Some of them will ride the final stretch with him on August 21. Others will greet them in Toms River to celebrate one young man's incredible journey.