Forrest Willett

Christine said we might remember Forrest from his days at Tom Smith when he lived on a crane for 48 hours for charity and for much other community work including support for the Villa Lodge, Big Brothers, and as a Volunteer fire fighter.  He is the founder of the Uncle Buck's chain of stores.  He suffered a traumatic brain injury in a car accident in 2002 and has had to relearn walking, talking, reading and writing.  He now is a motivational speaker and leads sessions in human potential.

Forrest thanked the Club for the welcome and for all the work it does in the community.  He said an accident is the last thing on your mind until it is the only thing you can think about but he said that he hoped that his success in recovering would inspire others to work towards their dreams because it is all possible.  In 2002 he was a passenger in a car he was trying to sell to the guy who was driving while on the phone and he woke up several days later lost.  He had lost himself as a husband and father and friend and he had no memory of the accident. 

He said we all have a plan but what if we get punched in the face?  He recognized people but he couldn't remember their names and he couldn't speak.  He suffered 5 years of physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, and many surgeries and felt that there was no progress and he was suffering from depression, anxiety and pain and was on a mass of meds.  This kind of accident disrupts everyone's life and most families don't survive it - only about 5% of couples stay married.  It changes the victim and the family members. 

One morning buried in bed he heard Jack Canfield talk about his book on self improvement and decided he needed to read it.  This encouraged him to do better at learning to read and once he had studied the book and worked on the principles he came off his medication, went back to school - he had to smoke up a couple with the kids in the back to convince them he wasn't a narc - and went to university.  He worked with a psychologist, did exercise and wrote his own book.  Oprah ran a contest to make an inspirational video and, encouraged by his mother-in-law, who's the Oprah fan, he made one that won.  Now he says he's better than he used to be.

Sometimes, he says, you win and sometimes you learn.  It's important to realise that there is more to learn and that we need to have dreams, not complaints.  Complaints assume that someone somewhere is having something or doing something better.  It won't come to you - you have to make the change, to deal.  An Event plus the Response equals the outcome and we have the input on the response.  Thanks, he says, to the support he got, he got a good outcome.

We can't compare ourselves to others, we have to strive on our own.  Use humour - it's one of the five things that release endorphins that inspire us to feel better.  The others are sunshine, love, chocolate and exercise.  Work towards your goal but do things for others - it comes back 5 times.

He admitted that dealing with insurance companies was hard - they can make you a victim again.  The driver also suffered brain damage and has been divorced.  He said it is good that more people are dealing more openly with mental health issues and brain damage but that as awareness grows and acceptance for seeking help becomes wider spread the lack of psychiatric help is becoming problematic.

Britt thanked him for his inspiration and presented him with his donor plaque.