My name is Ashley Wilson and I am an elementary school teacher. Well, I was… I’m not sure if you can say I currently am…just saying that feels like a punch in the gut. I hope to be again. Our broken workers comp system has forced me into a position of having to take a work Leave of Absence for the entire school year, unpaid, and has taken away my medical care, leaving me to slip further back in my healing.

**Before I go any further, I want to make it clear that the issue here lies with workers comp. My admin at my school have been the MOST supportive and helpful human beings I have ever met. I am lucky to have them and I couldn’t even imagine what this situation would have been like if I didn’t. They truly have gone above and beyond for me. Another amazing person in this story is my Concussion PT. She is the most knowledgeable person I have met, and has been my biggest, and what has felt like only, long term medical support. She has taught me so much about concussions. Whenever I feel discouraged that I am not progressing fast enough, she is the first to remind me how far I’ve come.**

The county that I work for raised me, became my life long dream career, and currently educates my 8 year old. This should be year 17 of teaching for me, but unfortunately, I have been out on medical leave for a life altering injury I received at work. More about that later. I want to show you who I was before this injury defined my life.

You might have seen my face on social media or in the news for my well known Pi Days. The local newspaper picked up the story a few years later and wrote a multipage spread on the event, as well as published some interviews with myself and my students online. If you head over to our Governor’s Instagram, you will see that he featured my work back in April of 2024. He reached out to my school and I was asked to create a project with my class that now sits on a shelf in the office of the CEO of Lego in Denmark. I have also spent many years teaching PD classes to teachers in the county on various topics.

Unfortunately, while I long to be that teacher again, I currently am unable to do so because I am suffering from a Traumatic Brain Injury. Be patient with me as you read my story. I struggle with short term memory, especially everything from the injury up until now. My story telling and putting things in order is also not the greatest since the accident.

On January 30, 2025, I was leaving my classroom trailer with my 5th graders. We were heading to recess. While heading out, a teacher and I stopped on the sidewalk to do a quick check in. 30 seconds tops. Those 30 seconds have altered my life forever. I would quickly learn that a student from another class was in between the trailers, where they aren’t allowed to play. I found this out because I was hit very, very, hard on the right side of my face/head/nose with an over inflated kickball. One of those kickballs that the kids love because they were just inflated, but too much air was put in, and the ball feels like a rock, easily bouncing higher than ever. That is when we learned that the student was in between the trailers and had kicked a ball right in our direction. I hope this kid plays on a professional soccer team one day. I was hit directly on the side of my face. My nose cracked, my face and head throbbed, and my glass lenses were no longer properly in my glasses. I was confused. So incredibly confused. Being in shock and pain, and really upset about my glasses, the teacher I was with suggested I go inside for ice. Here’s the thing, kids will be kids. I am not upset with the student. Accidents happen. I’ve used it as a talking point with students as to why we have rules, despite us thinking they are “silly.”

With our recess being right before dismissal, by time I returned from the office, the kids were getting on the buses. Later that night at home, despite taking Ibuprofen, my headache continued to get worse. I called out of work the next day, Friday, because something just didn’t feel right. My headache was getting worse. My nose was really hurting. I tried to get into the school system’s health location, but they informed me that their xray machine wasn’t working, and that I could come in on Monday, or go to Ortho on Call. My mother called Ortho on Call for me at this point, and they said that because it was a face/head injury, they weren’t the right people to see. I figured I needed to wait it out until Monday.

Saturday came. I was playing video games with my son. A simple Lego game on his Nintendo Switch. Just a few minutes in and I realized something wasn’t right. My head hurt… I mean really, really hurt. I was dizzy. I felt like I was going to throw up. I went to the bathroom and just couldn’t shake it. That is when the thought hit me - could I have a concussion? I assumed all along that there was something wrong with my nose. Never did I suspect a concussion. I grabbed a flashlight. I checked my pupils. Something was off. Despite the light making me feel worse, I realized that my left pupil looked a lot different than my right. I headed right to CareNow. At CareNow the doctor took one look at my pupils and said at this point it was more serious than a CareNow visit, that I needed to head to the ER. At the ER it was deemed that I had a concussion. The dr said I would probably be better soon, pulled me out of work for a few days, and sent me on my way. She told me if I got worse, to be seen again. A few days go by and something is off. I didn’t feel better, in fact, I felt worse. The pain was unbearable. I headed back to CareNow. This was the first time I was given an xray. My nose was fractured/slightly displaced, I had minor whiplash, and of course the concussion. All I remember about that appointment were the lights and sounds. Everything was SO bright. Every little sound was a bother. You could hear the paper towel dispenser in the bathroom through the walls, the sound pounding in my head. I sat on the table, knees to my chest, trying to block it all out.

I will be honest, the next few months are quite a blur. Since this accident I struggle with short term memory loss. I remember that there were a lot of snow days in February, and that my head appreciated those days. Starting in mid February I began going to concussion PT. For February and March I was working 4 hour days and was supposed to be receiving accommodations for my concussion. I vocalized over and over again to the doctor and RN Coordinator that the accommodations weren’t possible in an elementary school setting. I was brushed off and told, “they have to be.” I contacted HR, my claims adjuster…. Everyone I could think of. I either didn’t get a response, or was brushed off to the next person. I was sinking. My principal, let me tell you, she is the BEST admin I have ever worked for. She needs Principal of the Year, Principal of Life. She reached out for me, but without any luck. Several attempts to HR by both her and myself, and nothing. (HR finally reached out about these February/March accommodations in MAY).

I pushed on through these 2 months. Driving to work made me sick. Teachers would comment that I was stumbling in, pale as a ghost. When I sat in meetings, listening to my coworkers would sound like an episode of Charlie Brown’s teacher with a “womp womp womp” sound. I was SO confused. They would ask me if I was okay, point out that my face had turned pale again, try everything to help, etc. I was walking through the halls feels as if I was stumbling out of a bar. I was teaching math, but relying on my students to do the math. I was making mistakes everywhere. I couldn’t count my students. Counting made me sick, so they did it. I couldn’t even scan the room to take lunch count. Looking left was the worst. If I looked left at all I was immediately sick. There are so many other symptoms I had during this time, but I just can’t remember them all. I don’t know how I managed, honestly.This time was also filled with more and more doctor appointments. I remember times I would sit in the room for 1-2 hours waiting to be seen, phone in my purse because screens made me sick, headhiding, trying to block out that light. The most imprinted memory I have from those visits… the pain from the light and sounds. If I haven’t mentioned the pain yet, let me mention it now. The headaches were absolutely unbearable. There were days at school that I would hold in every tear as long as possible until I couldn’t help it anymore, and they would silently stream down my face. I was confused all of the time.

Come March, I kept reaching out to HR about accommodations, and kept being told “your HR person will reach out to you.” Nothing. I’d reach out again. Nothing. At this point payroll and workers comp were having some issues. I wasn’t getting paid correctly. Again, those amazing admin of mine…. She reached out to the Superintendent, who then reached out to HR, and this was the first time I was actually getting some real communication from them around April.

But back to March… I so badly wanted to return to full days, I wanted to teach, but I just couldn’t get a doctor to let me go back. Looking back, I don’t blame them. At the beginning of March I thought I was on a slight mend, but then things started taking a turn. More meetings, increased behavior issues as spring break got closer, more time without my accommodations, no snow days as breaks. Wanting to go back so badly, I kept reminding myself that I was getting better in February, this must just be a hiccup. I’d learn later that it wasn’t. Spring break came. For the first time I felt like concussion PT was productive, pushing me forward, instead of just helping the symptoms. By the end of spring break I can say that the pain had definitely gone down a few numbers. I was SO excited to go back to school!

April 7th. I remember this date because it was the first day back after spring break, and the day before my birthday. The first day back. Every bit of pain came back within an hour of being back at school, and then some. A few hours in, I couldn’t function. How could this be?! If I taught anything that day, I couldn’t tell you what it was. I remember feeling like I was sprinting down the hall to get the kids to lunch because the pain was forcing the tears to stream down my face, and I didn’t want the students to see. My principal, again, the best administrator there is, sat by my side at lunch. Supporting me, telling me to go home and take care of myself, not to worry, they had everything under control, telling me to go back to the doctor, telling me to text her when I got home so she knew I was safe. I left. Sat in my car for a good hour because I was too dizzy to drive. I came in for a few hours the next day, and left to go to an appointment I was able to make.

You know things were bad if I opted to spend my birthday at a doctor’s office instead of doing anything else. My CareNow doctor that was the one communicating with workers comp referred me to a neurologist. FINALLY!!! Some hope that I would get more medical care.

Now, earlier I mentioned the RN Coordinator. Someone that workers comp provides to set up your appointments, get your paperwork to the people who need it, etc. Up until this point she had just been someone to check in with. When she found out I was referred to the neurologist, things started to change with the workers comp side. Without talking to me about it beforehand, she called my CareNow doctor, had him CANCEL my referral with the neurologist, and notified me that she did me a “favor” and made an appointment with her “friends” who specialized in concussions. At the time, I didn’t think anything of this. If I could go back in time, I would go back to this moment right here. I truly believe that I would be in a different position than I am now. Once I wasn’t living in so much pain, I realized she had actually sent me to a spine and pain intervention Dr.

So now we are at mid April. April and May are more blurs of time for me. I had now been classified as having fallen into “Post Concussion Syndrome” status. I learned that people will get PCS for pushing themselves too much, and working without those accommodations for 2 months really did me in. All of the old symptoms were there, plus many new ones. I was pulled from work completely. Up until this point I trusted the medical care I was receiving. I didn’t feel like I was getting enough, whatsoever, but I trusted it. I don’t remember the order of events, but red flags started to come up with workers comp, my claims adjuster, the RN Coordinator, and these “friends” of hers at the doctor’s office she wanted me to go to instead of a neurologist. I don’t remember the order of events, but here they are.

The RN Coordinator would come to these appointments with me and socialize with the NP as if they were best friends. Talk and joke. It was more about their social hour, and not about my medical care. I’d ask them to stop because it would set my headache off.

I learned that BEFORE my follow up, she would already have made the decision for the NP as to what my work plan/accomodations would be. I discovered this when one visit I came in not having made much progress, and he had to step out. I asked him why and he said to call her to get her permission to change her note.

The most memorable appointment, and the one where I realized something really was not right here, was when the RN coordinator took over for the NP. She got mad at me. She was being quite rude, told me she had never seen anyone have a concussion for more than 3 months, accused me of having medical conditions I didn’t tell her about, accused me of not doing my PT (My concussion PT called the RN Coordinator to explain to her that I was one of the hardest working patients she has ever seen), and much more. I was hysterical. It got worse. She then told the NP to change how he had given me pain meds. Instead of taking it when symptoms came on, she told him to suggest to me to take it twice a day no matter what. I was hysterically crying at this point. I went above and beyond at PT. I had been trying SO hard to get better. And I was, but very, very, slowly, with lots of hurdles yet to overcome. Then, the next statement, I will never forget. She looked at the NP and said, “I know I am not a doctor, but I think you should write her a prescription for 40mg of Lexapro.” He was getting ready to do it. That is when I finally stood up for myself and said I didn’t feel comfortable. That I would like to talk to my own PCP.

I called the Claims Adjuster, explaining that I was referred to a neurologist but the RN Coordinator canceled it. She wouldn’t help me. She said that my medical team knew best.

No matter how much I advocated for myself, I couldn’t get anything I needed. I felt like a puppet.

For the second half of May I attempted to go into the school building for 2 days a week, for 2 hours. I couldn’t do it. The sounds. The questions. Just a few minutes around multiple sounds, people asking me questions, would flare up my head so badly, I wouldn’t be able to function for multiple days. Do you know how many completely quiet locations there are in an elementary school building? None. At one point I went to the bathroom and sat there for quite some time, holding my ears, trying to make the sound go away to help me dizzy feeling headache. I ended up working my hours like this for 3 weeks, unpaid. It had to be coded so that a substitute was in my classroom. I tried to get my pay, but my head was too exhausted and I just gave up.

I believe it was the beginning of June when I had the appointment with my PCP. Her jaw dropped when I asked her about the 40mg of Lexapro for anxiety. Apparently it isn’t safe. It isn’t FDA approved. She called the RN Coordinator to explain this, as well as request I get to actually see a TBI Specialist. The RN coordinator told her that if by July 31st I wasn’t better, she would let me go.

The summer went by. I was FINALLY showing some great progress in concussion PT!! Was I anywhere near fully healed? No. But boy did I get some skills back that I had lost! I was able to look left, driving was a piece of cake again, and more! I pushed and pushed myself in PT. My PT worked so hard. By my big July 31st appointment, I still was unable to be around multiple sounds at once, still couldn’t answer multiple questions, and was still relearning basic math, but I was told by my RN Coordinator and NP that I could go back full time ONLY IF I had an aide with me at school 24/7. I understood this. Sounds would still make me forget where I was and what I was doing, causing a panic attack. Sounds indoors, or being asked a list of questions still set off the cognitive part of my brain that would make me unable to hold conversations, or pretty much even get a coherent sentence out of my mouth. Oh, and the brain zaps. More about those later. When the NP wrote this work note he tried to explain all of this, but the RN Coordinator made him take out the details. She said, “if you explain why she needs it, they won’t let her back.” It was also the big July 31st appointment where I was going to get to be sent to see a TBI Specialist. Guess what? Didn’t happen. The NP asked me at this appointment what I needed at this point to get better. I very respectfully said, adequate medical care. I said that I felt that if this wasn’t a workers comp case, that I would be healed by now. The RN Coordinator was shocked, so I explained. Just that appointment the NP agreed to order some cognitive tests, the RN coordinator said “no, workers comp won’t pay for that.” HR wanted ADA paperwork filled out… workers comp won’t pay for it.. I then brought up the promise to see a TBI Specialist. The RN Coordinator then said that the NP (who was in the room) was a TBI Specialist. The shocked look on his face was priceless. He isn’t.

Despite the appointment, and again being denied medical care, I was excited to be going back to the classroom!! I went in and started to set up. I will be honest, I quickly realized all the things I couldn’t do. I couldn’t read the back of the book and understand what it said. I couldn’t sort the books into genres. I couldn’t hold conversations with the people coming to say hi. Every noise set my head off, still. The classroom lights were harsh. I struggled to make decisions. Still, everything I did was taking my brain so much longer to do than in the past. It didn’t matter… I was so excited to be back to my happy place!! While I was setting up my room, emails and phone calls rang in.

August 6th. HR calls me. They asked for clarification as to why I needed an aide since the letter wasn’t very detailed. We couldn’t get the ADA paperwork filled out by that office, so we had my concussion PT fill it out instead. For some reason workers comp doesn’t want anything filled out by the Concussion PT. I find this strange since she spends a minimum of 3 days a week with me, for multiple hours. And all of the workers comp letters were coming from an NP, scripted by the RN coordinator. HR put me on unpaid medical leave until the ADA paperwork could be processed. Since the ADA paperwork was filled out by an unbiased, very knowledgeable Concussion PT, HR gave me a hard “no” to return with an aid. I was put on unpaid medical leave until 10/29 for the time being. Of course, with a follow up in there to see where I was at. I tried to contact my workers comp claims adjuster a countless number of times. I needed my workers comp reinstated so I could get paid.

Throughout this whole process I have lost so much money. There were 3 paychecks in May-June that were missing so much money. So many late fees accrued. My electric and water were turned off at different times. Even though most (not all) of the money was eventually fixed, it didn’t fix the hundred and hundreds of dollars of late fees that had accrued and kept rolling over, costing me more and more. Since workers comp was saying that I could be at work, but with an aid, and HR said I couldn’t be at work, this caused a huge problem. Plus, with workers comp not returning any calls. It was a nightmare. I had to get a workers comp lawyer. I couldn’t keep up with this anymore, and this wasn’t helping me heal, having to deal with all of this.

I wasn’t happy to not be allowed back to teach, but honestly, and I hate to admit it, it made sense. I am a walking liability. It was explained to me that what if there was an emergency, there were loud noises… how would I direct students? What if I had an episode of forgetting where I was and what I was doing? I can’t read and comprehend, I am still relearning basic math skills in concussion PT. How was I supposed to be a teacher? Again, I didn’t like to admit it, but everyone was right. So I spent August/September pushing and pushing myself in PT. Progress. Slow…very slow… but progress. Still so much more to relearn, to gain back, but oh so slowly getting tiny things back week by week.

On September 25th I had a follow up appointment with my NP. Because I had a lawyer step in, the RN Coordinator was not allowed to be there. It was the most calm appointment I had had. I gave my job description to the NP. He read over all of the Concussion PT notes sent to him. He wrote an honest work note stating the sad truth, that I was not to the point yet to be able to come back to work and do my job. That I needed at least 6 more weeks of PT, and we would reassess in 6 weeks, November 6th.

September 30th. I received an email from HR stating that they received my “return to work” note from risk management that was written on my September 29th appointment. I was cleared to return to work 100% with no accommodations. To say I was confused was an understatement. I didn’t have an appointment on the 29th. A few minutes later I receive a message from my PT’s office saying all of my appointments have been taken away from me. I had a letter in my hand from my appointment on the 25th. There was a lot of confusion for many days. No one would show anyone (myself, my concussion PT, my lawyer) this “magical” note from an appointment I never had on the 29th.

Many more days go by of confusion. I have been stripped of my PT appointments and am falling backwards in healing….. fast. Many days are spent trying to sleep the dizziness/ear ringing/confusion/headaches away. The brain zaps are out of control. All while I wait for someone to tell me what’s going on.

Oh, for those wondering about “brain zaps.” If I put myself in an indoor social situation and force my brain to hold conversations, or to do any sort of thinking, I end up being “zapped” for many, many, nights. For example, once in concussion PT I had to verbally give synonyms for a list of words, but I had to do it in a room with many people talking. For a week and a half I barely slept. Every time my body starts to fall asleep I get a jolt of lighting through my brain that wakes me up. It truly is the most uncomfortable feeling I have ever experienced. The first few nights are annoying, leaving me tired. After that, combining the lack of sleep and pain, depression starts to kick in. Eventually they fizzle out, and I can sleep, until I put myself in another noise filled situation.

On Thursday, October 16th I heard from my lawyer. Apparently someone reached out to the head doctor at this spine and pain place where the NP is, whose name is always on the forms, but who I don’t see. He wrote the mystery note on 9/29, dismissing me from workers comp completely.

At this point I was put in a pretty uncomfortable position when it comes to my career. Workers comp has coded me as 100% capable of doing my job, HR has all of the medical paperwork saying I can’t return to my job. My lawyer is fighting it, but it will take more than a year. HR tells me I have only 1 option… to take a Leave of Absence for the entire school year. This gives up my current position, forces me to sign away teaching for the entire school year, and leaves me UNPAID until next school year.

I did everything in my power to not sign this LOA. I wrote a letter to the superintendent. It didn’t help. I then got an idea… let me go meet with this mystery doctor! If he wrote a note for me, I want to know who asked him to, and why…

So that appointments came along. At this point, before this appointment, the nurse is concerned because my typical 120/80 blood pressure is at a 178/106. My heart hurts daily. This is truly the most stressful experience of my life. I will say, this appointment, it did not go how I expected to at all. As soon as I questioned this doctor he told me he had seen the videos. What videos? Can’t make this next part up…. Someone had been following me since last May. Since the appointment where the RN coordinator said, “are you not getting better because you aren’t doing your PT? You better not be sitting at home all day. You better be going out in public and forcing yourself into social situations.” *My PT homework has grown from walking around stores looking left and right, to putting myself into daily situations of shopping, socializing, etc. All those sounds that work up my head. Then when the brain zaps start, I stop until they are gone.* Some videos showed me walking into my PT appointments and getting gas. This Dr said, “you can walk straight, it doesn’t look like anything is wrong.” Another video showed me leaving a hair appointment. He said since I was able to “beautify” myself, I was showing complete cognitive ability and no longer needed medical care. Note: my hair dresser got me in at a time that no one else was there. Leaving that appointment, a parent of a student stopped me in the parking lot. He said I talked to her for 10 minutes, which showed him I was perfectly normal. Little did he know, had there been audio, that this parent was a neurologist. She was asking me questions, and I was stuttering over my words, and dealing with word retrieval issues, all while she was telling me that she does this for a living and not to be embarrassed. She then spent some time looking at my recent medical paperwork. We exchanged numbers so she could help me get a neuro. Another video showed me sitting outside of Starbucks with a friend. Yes, I definitely was. I tried to be around the sound exposure inside, but the mix of music and people was just too much, and when she noticed my complete confusion, and the left side of my face twitching, along with my left hand shaking, she made us sit outside. Of course there was no audio, and he only saw a picture of us sitting at a table outside. I probably wasn’t supposed to see this next part, but there was a script on his computer. If I asked ______, answer with _______. By the end of it I was crying like a hysterical baby. I want my concussion PT back. I want my medical care. I want to be a teacher! I do believe at the end his demeanor changed, and he said he was going to ask workers comp to get me a neurologist. Ha. I laugh because I know they will never give it to me. He coded my appointment for being there for my “back pain.” Just another example of the craziness. I don’t know if I left more offended that someone felt they needed to make sure I was telling the truth (honesty is my biggest pet peeve and I pride myself in my honesty), infuriated that my medical care is being controlled by idiots, uncomfortable to know a stranger has been watching me, or bewildered at both the audacity these people have, and the fact that this has become my life.

I thought it was important to tell everyone the whole story. Believe it or not, even with the story this long, there are so many details I’ve left out along the way.

Our workers comp system is broken. Never in my life did I ever think I would be on workers comp, or have an injury like this. But never, ever, did I think I would be denied so much medical care, have RN Coordinators acting like doctors, lose my wages, and feel like a puppet when it comes to my healing. All I want is to get better and go back to my dream job. I want my medical care. Some days it is hard to believe this is my life. I skip many family events, find myself sitting outside of events hiding from the sounds, have lost friends, have disappointed my son with the countless number of activities I can’t go to and can’t be “mom” at, I have lost all of my hobbies. When I am around sounds, try to hold conversations, etc, it feels like bugs are crawling under my left side of my head, my left eye switches, and it is a struggle to move my tongue to form words. I don’t even know who I am anymore with this brain injury. Nothing brings me joy. I just want my life back.

So, you met the past Ashley in the beginning. Who am I now? I am someone who…

Can’t teach for the rest of this school year

Is unpaid and has no idea how to pay bills for the next 9 months

Will lose a game of memory against a kid

Can’t fill out forms

Forgets chunks of time

Has brain zaps after being around multiple sounds

Can’t read and understand what I’ve read

Struggles with word retrieval

Can’t shop in loud sensory stores (might as well cancel my Costco membership)

Struggles with math (my favorite subject)

Struggles to follow directions (auditory or written)

Can feel the thoughts trying to leave my brain, but getting stuck before coming out of my mouth.

Struggles to give directions

No longer has hobbies

Wonders why… why did this happen? And what can I do to advocate for myself and for others?

I will be honest, I feel guilty making a GoFund me, asking for help… guilty and embarrassed. I never imagined being in a situation like this. When I came up with a total, I calculated the pay I will be missing until I can get my job back. I know I will have to pay for my own medical care if I want to get better, but I figured I can figure out those finances by cutting other things.

Thank you to everyone and anyone who can help me. If you can’t help me, what I ask more than anything is to share my story so that people can become aware of the broken workers comp system, and how badly it can destroy someone’s life.