We recently connected with Molly Cain and have shared our conversation below.
Molly, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?
A decade ago, I had an accident at my home in Colorado, where I was paralyzed and in a coma. I tumbled down a flight of stairs and demolished the wooden maple table with my face, fracturing the right side. If I woke up from my coma, the journey was unidentified. However, it was not thought that I would walk again or regain life to my mobility. With this in mind, my mother revamped her entire house, and my aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends helped flip a few rooms around the house. And re-create a bathroom for a woman with a shower chair and shower bar.
While fortunate to be at home with family and loved ones, my goal was to fly through occupational, speech, and physical therapy with flying colors before moving back to Colorado. I was still working on creating my paradigm. Or something like this. But the truth was. Re-learning how to find balance and your gait. It is, for me, the most discouraging piece of re-learning the new you – the independence factor—also the most rewarding.
Once I could walk again, I thought I had it all figured out. I could do whatever and make anything happen; not invincible, but unstoppable. I had a goal to move back to Colorado after being physically well enough to leap. AKA, being released from therapy. After being home rehabilitating for 8-months, I returned to Colorado to find, create, and discover this new world I was fortunate to call my playground.
Except, I wasn’t sure I was ready to leap – but I knew if I never tried, I would never know, and this would not be balanced with my alignment. This was one of the best decisions I’ve made on my journey – it was the creation of my identity. I founded SMILE #UWokeUp, the nonprofit to raise awareness of traumatic brain injuries.
Fast forward a decade, and I had a crazy idea-thought-feeling—an urge inside that I could not stop or control. I knew, but to try to stop myself and tell me NO, especially when it came to anything that involved SMILE #UWokeUp.
Our mission is movement. How does one best relay a message? Well, leading by example, of course. So, who is better than the nonprofit founder and someone who had to fight for every breath, step, and word at one point, not too far from the current moment? Who is among the few survivors to regain life to the same degree I have, I knew that I had to raise awareness of our hidden disability while also encouraging a metric that successfully worked for me during my recovery (ALL stages of recovery: memory, hand dexterity, speech, words, and definitions, etc.) MOVEMENT.
My movement started with relearning how to move my right arm up and down. Then, authentic tennis shoes that were not slip-on. Putting my hair into a ponytail. Brushing my teeth – alone. Learning how to hold a spatula, Understanding what bowls, plates, spoons, forks, cups, cutlery, and their proper functions and how to use them. Well, this was my rebirth of movement.
Fast forward a year, and I decided to raise money for the local hospital where I did my outpatient rehabilitation. 1,000 miles away from Colorado. Friends, if there is a will, there is a way, and this race and fundraiser definitely happened in the divine time. Just as all was supposed to happen. This was also a 7-mile race of pure hell that encouraged me never to stop moving forward.
This brings us to the biggest risk I’ve taken thus far in my life as a brain injury survivor, endurance athlete, project manager, partner, friend, and the best dog mom to Phoebes. I signed up for an endurance season of a lifetime. My 2023 goal was to gain stones to enter into UTMB-Chamonix, France. I hope to qualify for the 50K race there next year in August – registration opens in December. The other goal of the season was to race my first 100K in order to have the creds to enter a lottery pool for a 100-mile race. I knew I was racing Ironman, 140.6 miles (2.4 swim, 112 bike, 26.2 run) in Madison, Wisconsin, and I needed supporting races for this endeavor. This was where the triple by-pass came into play (118 miles, 12,500 vertical gain), And the races continued to load the list until I had 10 races that were “needed” to crush the season of a lifetime: Triple Creek 1/2 Marathon, Quad Rock 25 Mile, Deserts Edge 50K, Great Divide 100K, Mt. Evans Accent (14-15 miles up a 14-er), Tripe By-Pass, Never Summer, Ironman – Wisconsin, Yi-Pee Ki Yay 50K, and last but not least is TBD – Kessel 50 Mile.
The woman who started this venture is not the same woman who is finishing this quest. I race not because it is easy, no. I race to raise awareness of TBIs/BIs in our communities, encouraging movement – as the body and brain love oxygen and fresh fuel. I race for my TBI family – SMILE #UWokeUp
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
My name is Molly Cain, and I founded a local Northern Colorado nonprofit, SMILE #UWokeUp. We are geared towards raising awareness of traumatic brain injuries and brain injuries in our communities while providing support, tools and tips, and TBI prevention insight, All while encompassing the mission around movement.
SMILE #UWokeUp holds monthly BI/TBI support group meetings via Zoom, so anyone from anywhere can join as long as they have an internet connection. Along with other fun bonding events, get out of the house and around other survivors who understand and can relate to your journey – a safe and comforting place. We love to give back to the community and volunteer, as we are fortunate to have these opportunities.
Ten short years ago, I was in a coma and paralyzed. I am a traumatic brain injury survivor. Now, I raise awareness of this hidden disability while encouraging movement. “Movement saved my life by giving me life; now I aim to help others find the same.” We do this through Monday-Movement-with-Molly.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
Yes. I overcame a horrible accident when I was left in a coma with paralysis. To find healing, joy, and discovery of my new capabilities, limits, and boundaries and become an Ironman.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
SMILE #UWokeUp – brain injury awareness. My goal is to spread awareness to anyone who will listen. I want to educate others on hydration, nutrition, and how your body is like a car. You would not use the cheapest fuel for gas and expect it to have the best driving experience, just like you’re not going to give your body McDonald’s every day for a month and expect to run 250 miles in the desert without any health complications. I strongly encourage a healthy balance of movement, which could lead to longevity in some fashion—a benefit to you.
My goal through the mission of spreading awareness of SMILE #UWokeUp is to drive these forces through competing in big endurance races. Stretching the mind a little more just to see what it is capable of. How many lives can be impacted through encouragement helping survivors find healing on their brain injury journey? My thought was, I better start – so I did.
SMILE #UWokeUp
Contact Info:
- Website: www.smileuwokeup.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smile_u_wokeup/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/molly.cain.148/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/molly-cain-53422168/