From Building Houses to Helping Others Build New Lives After Brain Injury

We all can garner inspiration from observing how others face challenges, and ultimately move on with their lives. When shared by the individual, these stories of experiencing adversity; whether it be an unexpected loss or persistent struggle, first-hand accounts of how another person made it to the other side offers hope to others. Being willing to share ones’ own experience through an extremely challenging and often traumatic period of their life is certainly commendable: Now imagine such a person having seen life as they knew it completely vanish, creating an organization to make things better for their fellows’ experiencing great loss? Meet David Krempels, an accomplished building contractor who after trauma, shifted to helping others build “New Lives After Brain Injury”!

I’ve been blessed to meet some amazing people in my life and receive the support and encouragement of many, oftentimes for no apparent reason other than the purest of altruism. However, despite having experienced this true beauty of humanity, I am truly blown away by David’s inspiration at work through Portsmouth, NH’s Krempels Center (KC). This powerful organization, that I looked at in an earlier post (https://morethanaspeedbump.com/krempels-center/), is an instance of what I have to believe is divine inspiration. Deeply moved by the case worker of a young survivor who replied when asked about the young man, “What he really needs is a friend.” From this powerful observation coming from a supporter of a TBI survivor about their true need after David asked how he could help, KC has become a monumental gift to a community where survivors begin to live again.

While a simple blog post could never adequately relay my gratitude to KC nor my admiration and respect for David Krempels, I wanted to highlight what I truly believe is the precious gift he has offered to brain injury survivors. A self-described “late bloomer”, David was a successful building contractor who had found love and was married and heading away for his honeymoon when tragedy struck. From a physically active guy on the precipice of a new and exciting chapter of his life to barely surviving and a sudden widow, David began build a new life after brain injury. In his own words (https://krempelscenter.org/about-krempels-center/founders-story):

“June 1992. A successful building contractor; active in sports, my church, and the community. Just married. And then, in a second, everything changed. Squealing tires, twisted metal, flying glass. A tractor trailer truck slammed into our car. My wife was killed. I was left fighting for my life, and facing the long, lonely journey through the no man’s land of ‘recovery’.

Confused, angry, crippled, and heartbroken, I desperately tried to cling to the life I had known. But over the course of two agonizing years, I slowly realized that I was never going to be that person again.

Even then, in my darkest despair, I was fortunate. My family, a few extraordinary friends, and some exceptional therapists were willing to go down into my darkness with me. They acknowledged my losses and helped me grieve. They also insisted – against my protests – that my life could be good again. They were right. Little by little I began to replace missing fragments of that shattered life with something new.”

When his civil suit reached the jury, awarding him a lot of money, David was rescued from financial crisis. I suspect most people would expect the story to end there. However, this minister’s son had been raised to believe he could make a positive impact with his life and the trial’s settlement meant a new building opportunity: As David puts it, “My first career was building houses. Now I had the financial resources to help rebuild lives.”

Started as an emergency fund providing financial assistance to survivors and their families facing financial struggle resulting from brain injury, David’s initiative evolved after his conversation with that case manager.  Identifying with the loneliness and need for social connection following brain injury, David envisioned a physical space where survivors could begin to assemble new lives: From an informal get-together of individuals living with Brain Injury fueled with boxes of pizza at Portsmouth’s Community Campus what is now known as Krempels Center began!

Now for more than 20 years, Krempels Center has been providing a space where individuals shift from having survived to truly ‘living’ after brain injury. While the extensive medical and rehabilitative services needed after BI should never be minimized, the magic that happens at the Center is the keystone for many in the construction of a “New Life After Brain Injury!” After all, KC offers members the gift of acceptance from a community of their peers where each survivor plays an instrumental role in the healing of one another.