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The Mango Princess Character Analysis

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Where is the Mango Princess? was an amusing, yet realistic look into coping with life after a family member suffers a severe traumatic brain injury. In this novel, Cathy Crimmins recounts her husband, Alan’s horrific boating accident while on family vacation in Canada in July of 1996. Cathy also describes the toll Alan’s new personality and journey to recovery takes on not only him, but on the entire family as well. Reading this captivating story as well as conducting research on traumatic brain injuries (TBI) has provided me with new-found knowledge on TBI, brought to light the role a speech-language pathology plays regarding TBI, and has ultimately assisted in shaping my career as a future clinician.
Reading Cathy’s narrative allowed me to become familiar with TBI. As specified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, traumatic brain injuries affect around 1.7 million individuals across all ages each year in the United States. According to the American Speech and Hearing Association (ASHA), a TBI can be either a closed or an open head injury. The severity of traumatic brain injury can be identified as falling under mild, moderate, or severe using the Glasgow Coma Scale as stated by Teasdale et al. (2014). In the story, Alan was assessed after being admitted to a Canadian hospital and scored a five on the scale, categorizing his brain injury as severe. Although, Alan’s low score meant that he would eventually awake from the coma, the consequences of his

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