Kevin Donahue  00:00

But if you don't know, and other people don't know you're injured, they can't help you. So I got very active in telling people I'd go to dinners, you know, because I did, I stopped isolating. But everywhere I go, I tell people, hey, just so you know, I had a brain injury. It was in a motorcycle accident in Ecuador, you know, a few weeks ago. I'm okay, but I just want you to know I'm suffering from a concussion and post concussion syndrome, if I need to step up and leave, it's not you, it's me. I'm just dealing with some things in my brain injury that you know you couldn't quite understand right now, like, Oh my God, thank you for telling me. By the way, I know someone at Barrows Neurological Institute. You should talk to them. Oh, I have a friend who does this? And all of a sudden, these doors started opening because I was willing to share

 

Dr. Ayla Wolf  00:45

Welcome to Life after impact the concussion recovery Podcast. I'm Dr Ayla Wolf, and I will be hosting today's episode where we help you navigate the often confusing, frustrating and overwhelming journey of concussion and brain injury recovery. This podcast is your go to resource for actionable information, whether you're dealing with a recent concussion, struggling with post concussion syndrome, or just feeling stuck in your healing process. In each episode, we dive deep into the symptoms, testing treatments and neurological insights that can help you move forward with clarity and confidence. We bring you leading experts in the world of brain health, functional neurology and rehabilitation to share their wisdom and strategies. So if you're feeling lost, hopeless or like no one understands what you're going through, know that you are not alone. This podcast can be your guide and partner in recovery, helping you build a better life after impact. Kevin Donahue, welcome to life after impact, the concussion recovery podcast.

 

Kevin Donahue  01:52

Hey, Ayla, thanks for having me. I really appreciate it.

 

Dr. Ayla Wolf  01:56

absolutely.  So you are an entrepreneur, an adventurer, a father, a husband and a concussion survivor. You wrote a book in 2016 it's called concussion transformation, overcoming the number one silent secret killer of relationships, careers and lives, and you have an incredible life and career and relationship. So I think there's probably a lot that you have to say about your journey and how you how you transformed your life after having a pretty severe concussion.

 

Kevin Donahue  02:28

Yeah, for sure. You know, I guess I'll start where it all happened. You know, I was in traveling in South America. I was in Ecuador, in a little surf town just north of of Guayaquil, called montenita, and was down there over the Christmas holiday, New Year holiday, with a friend and, you know, trying to catch some waves, enjoy South America, the culture, everything. And it was choppy waves that day, so we couldn't paddle out. So we decided to rent these little 100 CC off road mini bikes, you know, good idea. And so we rented them, and we're just gonna go cruise up the coastal highway, enjoy some scenery. And we had helmets on and everything. And as we were going up the coastal highway, there was a box truck, and he was making what it seemed like a left, but he was going left to make a wider right, and I was gonna I sped up to go around him on the right, and there I was breaking face to face, head first into the passenger side of this box truck, right, and then he ran over the motorcycle. You know, in Ecuador, there's not a 911 system. There you are, right. Like I had soft tissue damage above my left elbow. That's what really hurt. I thought I had broken my arm, and I didn't realize I had a brain injury, you know, I had a helmet on. Everyone thinks a helmet protects you.

 

Kevin Donahue  03:50

And so there I was, laying on this coastal highway on the side of the road, and the truck looked down, and they just took off, you know. And luckily, I had a friend with me, and, you know, he didn't speak Spanish, but I did, and so I said, Hey, there was a store, like a little shop across the street. I said, Go get go get some yel ask them for ice, I really thought I broke my arm, and I actually laid there on the side of the road and prayed, you know, like we did find, like, a really rudimentary hospital down there, and got an x ray, and everything was okay. But of course, you know, this is what happens in automobile accidents. Car accidents falls. People will fix the broken hand, the broken foot, the broken leg, the broken arm, and they never consider that you might have a brain injury. I didn't consider it at all. And so, you know, there I was. This was December 28 2012 when this happened. And you know, New Year's holiday was coming up, and I was like, okay, so we drove back on his motor scooter, and we got went to the motor scooter shop, and they came back and picked up the bike, and the, you know, the wheel had been bent, had to pay a few bucks. And, you know, okay, vacation goes on. I'm okay. You know, I have an injured arm, but that's it. I. Actually, I actually paddled out the surf the next day. That's how committed I was, like I can, because I thought about Bethany Hamilton. Her name is the girl who got her arm bitten off. I said, if she can, so can I, you know, if she can circle one arm, so can I? So I gave it a shot, but I just wasn't feeling right. And then New Year's Eve came by. I woke up New Year's Day, and I was angry. I woke up at about four or 5am and I was so angry I couldn't figure out what's going on. I was mad at the guy I was with. I was mad. I would have been mad at you. I was just angry. I said, I got to get the hell out of here. And so I found a local bus, and I went straight to the airport at Guayaquil. And at the airport, I booked a flight to Miami, and I was like, I got to get away from these people. And it was so crazy, because I you know, you'd think you'd know you have a brain injury, but you never do. The problem with the brain injury, as you know, and maybe some of your audience knows, or maybe they don't, is you can't feel it and you can't see it, and we'll get more into that as we go along. But there I was. In fact, I got off the bus and I started walking towards the airport, because the bus depot was right next to the airport. And I got halfway to the airport, I'm like, my gosh, I forgot my luggage. Like, what is wrong with me, you know? So I went back, grabbed my luggage, thankfully, it was still there. And I got to the airport, and I just sat there, you know? I was just so angry, so angry, so angry. And anyway, I flew into Miami, I met with a friend there, and we went to the monkey jungle, had some dinner or whatever. And then, like, I was living in Scottsdale, Arizona at the time, and I was going to fly back to Scottsdale, but something in my heart told me, Go home, you know, it's sometimes it's important to listen to our intuition, you know, and I think something was calling me home to be with my mother, right with be with my family. Whatever was going on with me, I said, I need to be around loved ones. And I flew home to Virginia. My parents live outside Washington, DC, and for four days, I was ill, like very, very sick, fever. Couldn't get up. I was sleeping all day long. I had my little nephews trying to play with them. I couldn't do it. And I was like, man, maybe I just caught something down in in Ecuador, right? I don't know, who knows. And, and it was a mess, you know, and I still didn't consider my my brain injury at all. Flew back to Scottsdale maybe five days later, and, you know, I just started spiraling into this depression. You know, I'd walk my dog at night. I'd start crying for no reason, completely inappropriate emotional reaction to life situations. I get angry. I couldn't focus. You know, I would try to get back to work. It would take me three hours to write a two minute email. You know, I was just a mess, and I couldn't figure out what's going on. And here it was very fortunate. Every Wednesday night I was in this men's Bible study group, a prayer group, Bible study, whatever you want to call it, men's and, you know, and I'm usually pretty active, you know, in discussions. I'm a guy who wants to challenge or wants to push people, or whatever it is, but I was just kind of sitting in the corner with my head down, sort of, you know, just like depressed, sad. In the middle of the Bible study, a couple guys texted me, Hey, man, you okay? And I'm like, yeah, yeah. And this is probably January 8 or something. At this point, not just New Year's blues. I'm just trying to figure out what my next step is. Don't have a big vision, whatever it was, you know, now, I'm a guy who's taken a lot of personal development programs, everything from like Tony Robbins to landmark forum to Hoffman process, you name it, right, like, I'm a guy who's always like, what's the next transformation? You know? What can I do next? How can I push myself? Who can I surround myself to be a better man, a better person, increase my career, or whatever it is, anyway, a week went by same results. I'm like, I'm sitting at home. I never watched TV. In fact, I haven't had a TV in my house since I think 2010 for whatever reason, I had one there as I kept watching television and eating like french fries and hamburgers, and I kept watching two episodes in particular, and it was Pawn Stars on the History Channel and American Pickers, and I just couldn't get enough of it. I watched the reruns and reruns and reruns, and later out I kind of figured like, wow, those guys, it felt comfortable to me. You know, they that they felt like, almost like family, like I could sit there because they're friendly and funny and all that stuff, but it was just me able to kind of observe without being an interaction, because I was really isolating myself as well at this time. Well, the next week, I went back to the Bible study, and I was a mess, like a real mess. And, you know, at the end they said, Hey, we anyone have any prayer requests? I said, Yeah. I was like, something's not right with me. I don't know what it is, I said, but I need prayer. And they prayed, you know, let's help Kevin figure out what's going on with them. Because I couldn't describe it. And at the time, too, I was calling. I was going through my phone, you know, my phone. I was calling people who I didn't talk to in. Years, and I was just looking for comfort, you know, I was like, looking for I was like, I don't know. Maybe I need a life coach. Maybe I need a psychiatrist. I don't know. I need something. And anyone who would take my call, I would just kind of tell them, sort of like, my pity party I was going through, you know, like these emotional things I was experiencing. And anyway, I had an event up in San Francisco later that week, and it was a big event, and I was still a weirdo, you know, it's the only way I could explain. I just wasn't myself. I was eating like candy bars, you know. And part of that, by the way, that that Sugar Rush helps, you know, it gives you that comfort and makes you feel good at the moment. But I'm at this event. I can't pay attention to any, any of the presentations. I'm like, trying to play tic tac dough with the guy sitting next to me. I'm like, What is wrong with me? I'm acting like a little kid. And I had breakfast with a friend, and this is where everything, kind of the breakthrough was for me and a friend of mine, Alexandra. And I'm to this day, I tell her, she saved my life. I think I write about her in the book, I'd say, Listen, you know, she saved my life. Thank you. And she sat across from me and at breakfast and she said, Do you know Brendan Burchard? And Brendan Burchard is, like, a big motivational speaker, you know, marketing guy? I said, Yeah, I know Brendan. She was like, you know, a couple years ago he flipped his ATV down in Mexico, and he had a brain injury. Brain injury. And I was like, I stopped in my tracks. I said, Oh my God. I reached across the table, grabbed her arm, like, I have a brain injury. I was like, I got into a motorcycle accident. I had even forgotten about the motorcycle accident, besides with the soft tissue damage my elbow. I was like, I have a brain injury. Clearly, that's exactly what's going on with me. Now, at the time, thankfully, I knew guys like Dr Daniel Amen, you know, I'd been in a mastermind group with them. I had taken courses with Z health, which, you know, helps people rewire the brain, physical therapists and personal trainers. So I knew this stuff. And the reason I wrote the book, and the reason I like having this discussion is because most people don't have access, don't have the knowledge, don't understand brain injuries at all. And so there I was. I knew about this stuff, and I still didn't know I had a concussion. I still didn't know I was suffering from brain damage. So I was like, Oh my God, you saved my life. I flew back to Phoenix. I went to my friend, Joe Polish. I was doing some work with him at the time, and I said, Hey, man, you know why I've been so weird the last couple of weeks. I have a brain injury. And I started listing out my symptoms. And we called Brendan Burchard, and Brendan Burchard goes, Oh yeah, man, let me tell you my symptoms in word for word, line for line, it was everything I was going through. And this is a critical piece. You know, I have the seven steps to recovery in my book, and number one is awareness, right? Like you have to know you have a brain injury, you can't start your road to recovery until you're aware, until you know. And this is the problem. The reason I call it the silent secret killer of relationships, careers and lives, is because not only does the person who has the brain injury, they don't know they have the Brain Injury their spouse, their kids, their co workers, their boss, their partners, whatever it may be, they don't know either. They just know they're experiencing this person who is now hell on earth to experience, you know, they're just a mess. They can't get things done. They're being weird, quick, short, you know, short fuse anger and and so, you know. So after that, instantly, I went to get my brain scanned, and the guy down in Phoenix. Said, yeah, you have left frontal lobe damage and left rear damage as well. And you know, left frontal lobe is cognitive thinking, future vision, all of these things, executive functioning, executive functioning, everything. So I was like, Oh my gosh. Like, I'm in trouble. And I think the fear that we have as concussion survivors, is that, is this permanent?

 

Kevin Donahue  14:05

Is this one going to be forever? Boy, this is really going to mess me up. My entire life has been being a creative thinker and executive leader. You know, I have a background working with the White House and the CIA and the FBI and the Secret Service. I'd go in and do presentations for the White House next to Dick Cheney's war room, right? Like, I'm the guy you know you need to be on. Like, I've started up so many businesses. I'm like, Oh my gosh. What does this mean for me? And it's scary. It really is frightening. And really, what it means is that it's time to recover, right? And let you know be transformed in our recovery. And so I started the recovery process immediately. You know, in my book, I talk about the seven steps of recovery. Number one is awareness like that. You have to know that you have a brain injury. Number two is I started treating myself like a child. I. Kevin, you're not this big guy who can out there, and you're not dynamic anymore. Right now. You're a three to five year old little boy. You have to treat yourself like a little kid if you need to take a nap, take a nap. You know, if you need to take time off, take time off like Do not be out front. Executive functioning man right now, just be a child and listen to other people and let other people take care of you and let other people and let the healers heal you, you know. And this isn't, and this is, you know, I didn't understand why 22 soldiers a day killed themselves. I didn't understand why guys like Junior SEO, you know, these big, strong, masculine football player and soldiers would kill themselves, until I went through this experience. I mean, I was suicidal. I said, I can't live this way, you know, I was so confused. I tell women, you know, to understand the experience. I'm like, imagine your worst PMS day every day for five months. They're like, No, thank you. And I'm a guy, so I don't have a context for it, right? I'm just this emotional, you know, mess, crying, angry, uncontrolled emotions. And kind of the interesting thing, interesting part of that as well, is when we lose the executive function, you know, the right brain is more about the emotions and the feelings and some of these other things. Just like, if you were to injure your right hand and your right handed, well, your left hand will start doing the things your right hand used to do until it's healed. Well, my right brain was super active doing the things that my left brain would normally do, and so that's where a lot of those emotions came from. But, but yeah, so it was a really interesting time, and at that point, I was determined to get back to who I was before. And as you know someone that spends so much time in personal development, a man of faith, you know a guy who's accomplished a lot of things and done a lot of things in my life, I said, I'm not just going to get back. I'm going to get better. Love it.

 

Dr. Ayla Wolf  16:57

I love it. And you know your story has so many parallels with with my own. I mean, I was living in post concussion syndrome, and I didn't know it for a very long time. All I knew was that I was angry a lot. I was irritable, I was evilly easily overwhelmed. I was stressed out. I wasn't sleeping. I was anxious. I was depressed, suicidal, you know, all the same things, and I didn't know why. And I think you know, you're shedding light on such an important aspect, which is that when you're living in the fog of concussion, you don't have that self awareness to step outside of you and say, there's something else going on here. This is not normal.

 

Kevin Donahue  17:35

Well said, very, very well said, I love that the fog of concussion, because that's what it's like. It's like a fog, and you can't see and you don't know where you are. I mean, physically, you know where you are, but as far as emotionally in your in your future, it really kind of hits you between the eyes. And as I started telling people, you know, this is a number three in my you know, seven steps recovery is telling people like being open and sharing about your experience. Hey, listen, because, listen, if you have a broken leg and you're walking into Starbucks on your crutches, people are going to hold the door open for you, because people are naturally empathetic and they want to help you know, Hey, can I carry that for you? Yeah, sure, in the grocery store. Hey, let me get that for you. We do it all the time, right? I'm tall, so I saw a gal the other day trying to pick up something off the top shelf. Could you reach that for me? Of course, I can. But if you don't know, and other people don't know you're injured, they can't help you. So I got very active in telling people I'd go to dinners, you know, because I did, I stopped isolating. But everywhere I go, I tell people, hey, just so you know, I had a brain injury. It was in a motorcycle accident in Ecuador. You know, a few weeks ago, I'm okay, but I just want you to know I'm suffering from a concussion and post concussion syndrome, if I need to step up and leave, it's not you, it's me. I'm just dealing with some things in my brain injury that you know you couldn't quite understand right now, like, Oh my God, thank you for telling me. By the way, I know someone at Barrows Neurological Institute. You should talk to them. Oh, I have a friend who does this. And all of a sudden, these doors started opening because I was willing to share. I wasn't hiding behind this injury. I was being completely open with every single person I met, and I listened and listened and listened. And this even led me to one part of my healing. I took this. It was a, it was a company called brain state. They've changed the name since, but this guy had invented this program. And it was, you'd have these ear buds in and would play sounds. You'd have these EKG things on your head, and based on the sounds it would feed into your brain. It was the craziest thing. And I was like, the first day I did it, it was like a 45 minute session. I left there exhausted and angry, and I was like, Oh, this must be working. My brain's rewiring, right? And the second time I was euphoric. I was like, super euphoric. And I do it. Twice a day for five days, and this was probably about five or six months in. But I would never have known about this if I hadn't shared with somebody about my brain injury. And they said, Hey, there's this guy, John. You to meet him. He had a brain injury, and he's done all this therapy. I went and had lunch with that guy. I'd never met him before, and he said, You need to go do this therapy immediately. I'm like, Okay. And then on the fifth day, I'll never forget this, after my therapy session, I went to the gym. Now I had quit going to the gym because I just didn't have the motivation. I didn't have the energy. People don't understand. You know, your brain uses 6070, 80% of your energy resources, so when it's healing and rewiring, it'll wipe you out. So I didn't have the extra energy resources to go to the gym. I've been working out since I was 1516, years old, and that was a big you know, that hurt me as well. I remember after my fifth session, I went to the gym in Scottsdale, Arizona, and I was sitting there working out, doing biceps or something. I'm like, Oh, I'm back, like, it's five or six months in, and this isn't for this doesn't happen to everyone. Sometimes, you know, it takes years. Sometimes it takes two or three months. For me, it was about the five or six month point where I was sitting there and was clear as day, I'm back. I think I'm okay. And I remember I was emailing, I've been friends with Tana Ayman, Dr ayman's wife, Dr Daley's wife, for a long time, and I remember messaging her, and she was like, Kevin, just know that recovery and healing isn't a straight line. It's not okay. Now you're healed like a broken arm. Okay? You're You're good. Now it's ups and downs and ups and downs and ups and downs. And even to this day, I stay aware to the fact that maybe a reaction of short fuse, or whatever it may be, could stem from my brain injury, even to this day, which is, you know, 13 years later. So I've always been aware of that. It's really important for the audience to know that recovery is not a straight line, and it's not a one for one, my recovery would be different than your recovery, because every brain is different and every brain injury is different.

 

Dr. Ayla Wolf  22:05

Yeah, absolutely. And you're so right that it's, it's not a linear recovery, and that can be very hard for people when they just want to see him once they feel good, they obviously want to stay feeling good. And that, that technique that you were referring to, they changed the name to Cereset

 

Kevin Donahue  22:22

 Oh, yes. Okay.

 

Dr. Ayla Wolf  22:23

I actually did that for the first time this summer, and interviewed the Dr. Ala, who I was doing it [Cereset] with for the podcast.

 

Kevin Donahue  22:35

Oh, great. Cereset, Okay, I knew, I knew they had changed name. It was brain state back when I did it. And the gentleman who invented it was a, was an engineer, like a computer engineer, and he had been jumped and beat up with baseball bats or something, and he was like, I've got a so, you know, I think what I'm saying here with that is like, there's always an opportunity, right? Like transforming ourselves and seeing everything as a new possibility. You know, one of the things too that I had, I've done this program called Lifebook, and used to facilitate this program as well. And you know, you map out 12 areas of your life very specifically for every category, from health and fitness to relationship to career to emotional life. You had a premise, a vision, a purpose and a strategy written out with pictures in it. So here's where that came. Helpful for me. I was able to look back at journals and things that I had done and things I had written out. I'm like, okay, it was almost like I had a script for my life. So when my brain wasn't quite working and I couldn't use the resources for having a bigger vision, I could look back at my journals and the things I had written about and my plan for the future that I had written about my goals, and that was very helpful as well.

 

Dr. Ayla Wolf  23:47

You said something really important that I would love to just expound on, because you said initially you started going to these, like dinner meetings with people, and you would just let them know ahead of time. Hey, I've had a concussion. I'm dealing with this. But the next level of that is that, because you were open about that, then those people knew other people that could help you in your healing. And so it created, it opened doors for you. And they say that you know people, 80% of the jobs that people get are because they were introduced to somebody who then open the door for them to get that job. And it's almost the same thing where, when people are looking for help, the more open you are about your experience and that you you need help, the more doors are going to open for you.

 

Kevin Donahue  24:33

Well, that's the other part of that's the other side of the Ayla, it's not that I was just getting help from other people every time I had this conversation. This is the reason I wrote the book every single time I had this conversation. Oh, my daughter was in a car accident. Oh, my, you know, my son played football, and he's been struggling. And everyone has a relative or someone they know, or a friend who's had a brain injury. You know, I was in a relationship at the time, and. That didn't work out. And it was, didn't work out, you know, primarily for the brain injury. I was a mess. I remember, I told the girl we were in a new relationship. I said, I want you to know I have a brain injury, and I want you to know that right now, I don't need a girlfriend. I do a nurse like, and I don't want you to be my nurse like. And so I had, I had to break things off. But even her, she had been hit by a car her senior in high school, and, you know, not major accident, but she fell back. No, she was sitting on top of a car, and the guy moved the car, and she fell back and banged her head on the sidewalk, cracked her skull open, and as soon as I started telling her about my symptoms, she's like, Oh my gosh. She spiraled after that. She started doing drugs like all kinds of things, and like, just having these conversations with people opens them up to new possibilities, and the possibility of healing and all of the resources out there. You know, I ended up having a conversation with doctors Freddy's Garcia and Matt Antonucci. Ended up going down to the, I think was, the Carrick Institute at the time. Ended up doing business with the plasticity brain center. Later on, I started a company called neuro Performance Academy, you know, where, instead of just healing people who were broken, I started working with bio hackers, top performing executives, elite athletes, major league baseball, football and, you know, creating a program for them, not just to heal from concussions, but to maximize the nervous system. So, you know, it's like none of this would have happened if I hadn't had that little motorcycle accident down in Ecuador. And so I think that's one of the key things. And I'll go through the last few pieces of the seven steps to recovery. Number four is nutrition. You know, once I knew I had a brain injury. I went all in on brain food and brain supplements. You know, leafy greens. I cut out all processed sugars, all artificial colors, all artificial sweeteners, heavy fat diets, you know, fish oils, all kinds of things. You know, it was just like, you know, proteins, fats, greens, lots of, uh, fruits and vegetables. I just went very clean because I'm like, my brain needs all the help it can get right now. The other one was rest. Like, rest your brain needs to recover. So, like I mentioned earlier, I treat myself like a five year old when I need to take a nap. I took a nap. There was no question, there was no argument, it's time for a nap. It could be in the middle of the day. I could be in the middle of a meeting. I'm like, Okay, we gotta wrap this meeting, guys, I gotta go take a nap. You know, like my brain needs it. And I just allowed myself to rest, rest, rest, rest as much as possible. And then I think the last two here are almost spiritual pieces, and this is important to like, aligning your your mental, your physical and your spiritual life. And number six was create something in your life to look forward to. You know, we have a big goal in life, no matter what it is. My wife is a professional bikini competitor, right when she has a date on the calendar where she's gonna be on stage and that sparkly bikini and high heels like she's ready, you know, like, and she's preparing eight months in advance. She's looking forward to it. She's like, picking out the color of the bikini, picking up. Like my wife, I've watched her do little rhinestones on these clear plastic heels for like, a month, like, piece by piece. She's so excited for it. But it's not just that. It's like, book a vacation, you know, book yourself at an event where you're going to meet really cool people. You know, at the time I had the brain injury, I had a trip booked where I was going to Necker Island, Richard Branson's Island, and I said, I can, and there was gonna be a bunch of entrepreneurs on the island. We were going to be there for seven days. I said, I cannot be a weirdo when I'm hanging out Richard Branson. I've got to be more normal. I had this goal in mind, and by the time I got on Necker Island, I was almost 100% I was almost there. Yeah, and the last piece is a service. You know, oftentimes we get so caught up in our in our problems, in our issues, I don't know whether you're going through divorce, whether you're going through a brain injury, whether, no matter what it is, if we can get out of our own morass, our own swamp of depression, and we can go serve people, I'm telling you, it will change your life forever. In the midst of my brain injury, I got invited to go to a trip to Nicaragua to serve in the most impoverished community in this hemisphere. You know, we go to this place called La choreca. It's the garbage dump for Managua, Nicaragua, where about 3000 people live. And we would set up feeding station for the kids, and we would build homes in this neighborhood called tippitapa Cristo Rey was actually named the neighborhood. You know, doing that, being a part of that mission trip for me, changed my life forever. And I had done it before, but being and I told everyone on the trip, I say, Listen, I'm not going to be 100% I'll be about 70 to 80% I won't be able to do all the stuff I've always done. I may take a step back and just kind of observe at times, but when you feed a hungry child who otherwise wouldn't eat that day, all of your problems disappear. You know, this is the spiritual aspect. Aspect of concussion recovery and transforming your concussion into something extraordinary. And, you know, for years, I had concussion transformation.com I've kind of let that go, and I've had that book downloaded over 1000 times all over the world. I would see these people downloading the free PDF I just gave away for free, you know. And I started something called the concussion recovery network, you know, I just said, Hey, how people need help out there? How can I help them?

 

Dr. Ayla Wolf  30:27

Yeah, yeah, it is so powerful. And for me, you know, this podcast is that, you know, it's, it's my, my service in terms of, like, how can I reach people around the entire globe? And I just love going and seeing, Oh, wow. Like people in, you know, 45 different countries have listened to episodes of the podcast, and hopefully it's helped somebody.

 

Kevin Donahue  30:47

Yeah it certainly is. Because people just don't know what to do. They come across it, and they start going down the rabbit hole of, you know, the brain injury world. And, you know, it's like you just come across one solution. And I try to keep my book very simple. It was like a to be a 70 page book with a journal at the end. This is another piece too. This is part of having something to look forward to. Is journal, you know, like, Hey, what did I do great today? Or how do I feel today? You know, just writing it out and it's just being present in the moment. Because, you know, when you are brain injured, sometimes it is difficult to think past, hey, how am I gonna get through today? You know, it's like step by step. It's like day by day. And so having a journal that says, Wow, what can I do to help others today? How can I feel good today? Whatever it may be, you know, so having an active journal, because then you also get to track your recovery. I mean, I cannot tell you how much of a mess I was when I first got back to the USA, which, by the way, after my accident. And this happens all the time. You know, you have this rush of adrenaline because your your your brain goes in and your nervous system goes into survival mode. So I was okay from the 28th all the way through the first I was like, Okay. I mean, I wasn't okay, but, you

 

Dr. Ayla Wolf  32:01

know, right, it was what was happening. Still go surfing, exactly.

 

Kevin Donahue  32:05

I was trying to surf the next day. I keep thinking about that, and then the but your brain is slowly dying off. All those neural connections, all of those things start to slowly die. And by the time the first came around, I was furious. I would have been mad at anyone that was in my life, and I was just a total mess. And then people need to understand too, that the number one cause of concussions is automobile accidents. You know, motorcycle automobile accidents. Number two is falls. Three is sports related. Football is far and away. Number one girls soccer is number two, and then the fourth one is fights. You know, fist fights or domestic violence, and the last one is wartime injuries. You know, these these soldiers come back. And I was on a call doing a presentation last week for an organization called Aerial recovery group and heal the heroes. These are veterans who are going through a year long transformation process. You know, they often are diagnosed with PTSD, you know, post traumatic stress disorder. Well, that's not always accurate, because the the symptoms of PCs post concussion syndrome are almost identical to post traumatic stress disorder. And you know, and you just like, you can't heal a broken arm with pharmaceuticals, you know, or psychedelic drugs, whatever it may be, you can't treat a, you know, brain injury with drugs either. So sometimes these guys get on these, these pharmaceutical drugs, sometimes 2345, of them to help heal their PTSD, because the doctors in the VA are often just writing scripts and they haven't even had a brain scan, or they haven't even said because you know tough guy soldiers, even like tough guy me, you know I didn't understand. I had a brain injury. You know, your your your your Jeep gets blown up and your friend dies, or he loses his arm, and you're in one piece. So you think you're fine, but the concussion from that bomb that IED, whatever it may be, or that automobile accident that's going to cause a brain injury, even if you have a helmet on. And so guys don't understand this. So a lot of these guys are coming back from these, these wars in these areas with brain injuries, and they're suicidal.

 

Dr. Ayla Wolf  34:13

Yeah, absolutely. Tell me a little bit more about that organization, and you know the work doing with them.

 

Kevin Donahue  34:21

Oh, yeah, so Heal the Heroes and, well, yeah, that's a great organization, Aerial Recovery Group. It's my friend Jeremy Locke and his wife, they founded it. And he's a former, he's retired Green Beret Special Forces guys, you know, to go back to the service piece, you know, I was in Ukraine with these guys about two weeks after the war started over there, and we were doing orphan rescue, right? I had never been into a, you know, a war zone before, but I'm over there with a bunch of special forces guys. We have a tactical operations center. We have a safe house in Lviv, Ukraine, a safe house in Shesh, out Poland. And, you know, we're just going out and rescuing orphans, essentially. Actually, there's a huge orphan population over in Ukraine, you know, half a million to a million. And so we'd get these orphans in, you know, 50 at a time, with about 12 caretakers, and we'd have to put them up in safe housing, resupply them with, you know, clothing and food and all of these things. It was quite the operation. I mean, we we were there every night there were air raid sirens. We watched the fuel depot get blown up at the airport from our safe house. I mean, it was, it was wild. These guys do great work. I mean, you know, whenever there's a tornado, we did some work up in Clarksville and up in Kentucky, hurricanes, they were in first on the ground. They're like tip of the spear in North Carolina when the hurricanes hit there, and the flooding first on the ground in Florida. What talk about transformation? These are guys who have taken their, you know, military experience, which is designed to go kill people, right? And they're like, turning it into good, you know. Now, instead of being soldiers, you know, for war, now they're soldiers for service. And it's been a great organization. I've watched them take this thing from zero to, you know, 150 miles per hour, and they're just doing so much good work. They're at the earthquake in Turkey. They were at the floods in Pakistan. They just have quite the operation. And they have almost not unlimited resources. But these soldiers, these former soldiers, who want to volunteer their time and be a part of something to change their lives. So yeah, and these guys, he had me on last week to talk to these guys. They put on this program called heal the heroes. And these guys end up being service workers for error recovery, typically. And part of that was, hey, talk about the Brain Injury Book, Kevin, talk about your brain injury. You know, I talked about how to live a big life, you know, how to transform your life and, and, and, but part of that was even the bad moments in life. Like you've taken your experience Ayla and you've made this incredible podcast for people all over the world to hear like you mentioned, you know, because there is hope. I think that's the big lesson here. There always is hope. You know, I'm now married to the woman of my dreams. You know, I have a beautiful three year old boy, almost three year old boy. I live in Nashville, Tennessee now, like I just feel like I'm living the greatest life I could possibly live. I live with this mentality. How can I make this better? It's kind of how I've been wired the last 20 years of my life. But, you know, I just it's an extraordinary life, and that's on the other side of the impact. This is the life after impact, right?

 

Dr. Ayla Wolf  37:24

Yeah, yeah. And, you know, I think the thing that scares me when I think back is like, you know, you have those dark moments where you're having the suicidal thoughts, and it's like, how grateful Am I that I survived that, and that I'm on the other end of it, doing the things that I'm doing, and my life has purpose and meaning, and I'm happy and I'm mentally healthy. And so yes, it's like to look back and say there was a point in my life where I just didn't want to live anymore, but then look how beautiful my life became because I persevered and I made it through. And so I think again, going back to that, that thing you mentioned the beginning is like you asked for help, right? Like you kept saying, I'm dealing with this, and doors open for you. And I just, you know, I hope that anybody listening who's dealing with these, you know, things like depression and suicidal thoughts are are hopefully able to reach out and get the help they need. Because there, there are people out there that can help.

 

Kevin Donahue  38:24

I mentioned earlier too, like I would go through my phone and just call people I hadn't talked to in years. I needed friends. I needed to, you know, here I was alone in the world. I remember talking to an ex girlfriend, and she had had a brain injury. She had gone through the windshield of a car when she was 19, and she was and she just knew exactly what I was going through. You know, it was just, it was so comforting when you have someone who gets you and knows you and has been through it and but what I did, I remember, I just started calling people. I called all those people back. Said, Hey, listen, remember I called you a couple weeks ago, and I was, like, a little bit weird, or I was trying. I was like, I have a brain injury. They're like, No way. I'm like, Yeah, I remember that motorcycle accident I was in, yeah, I had a brain injury. So it's just, it was it's just it was so great. This will be why awareness is so important, because it just helps you piece it all together, and it helps you get on that road to recovery. And like I said, the number one silent, secret killer of relationships, careers and lives. I was fortunately in a place where, you know, I was in a new relationship that did end my career, I was able to put a pause on it, essentially, at that time, you know, shortly thereafter, I launched a whole entire skincare brand online with with some partners. It was amazing, you know, like one of my most successful businesses, but that was like, a year after, you know, and so if I hadn't taken that pause, who knows what would have happened, right? Like, I think sometimes, like, God gives us these pauses that says, hey, just double check, you know, let's make sure you're on the right path. And you know, most of the talks I give now are all about transformation. And, you know, I the example of caterpillar to butterfly, right? The caterpillar only knows the leaf in front of it, right? That's. All it has. It doesn't know any possibility other than the leaf in front of it. And then suddenly it goes into a metamorphosis, and it goes into a cocoon, and at that point it liquefies, it becomes liquid, right? And it's at its Yeah, it's called chrysalis, and it's at its most vulnerable state. It can't fight back, it can't run, it can't hide there. It just sits in the chrysalis. Well inside the DNA of that liquid is the DNA for a mighty butterfly. And as the butterfly breaks out of that cocoon and works its strength with the wings, butts another cocoon. Not only is that caterpillar unrecognizable to the world, the world is unrecognizable to it, because now it's infinite, right? So sometimes I think going into the cocoon, and this is kind of how I describe my my suffering from post concussion syndrome, was inside the cocoon and allowing God to do his work while I did my part to come out and be a completely different human being, right? It's that kind of like transformation. I felt like I was dead. I look back at those times I, like, would tear up for the longest time, like, my gosh, because you were just talking about being grateful. I'm like, my gosh, if I hadn't had that conversation with Alexandra that day, who knows where I would be right now, right? You know, so we do. We have this spirit of gratitude for all the things and the ability to transform and, you know, for how the universe works around us, that people come, you know, we just have to get out there, and we can't isolate for too long.

 

Dr. Ayla Wolf  41:29

Yeah, you know, my, my logo for life after impact is a it's a butterfly, but it kind of looks like neurons. It's a little bit abstract. So I think looking at it, people might not quite know, but that was my inspiration for my logo, was this concept of, like, butterfly meets neuron,

 

Kevin Donahue  41:45

yeah. Well, that's the thing, is that the miracle of nature, you know how, like, we're in the fall season here in Nashville, now the trees are gonna get brown, and then it bursts again in the spring, and like you, we just have to kind of hold on and be strong and take the effort and take the steps to get to a place of healing. And just also, if you know someone who's got a brain injury, just you know, get get a book, listen to the podcast, share something with them, right, so that they can get the healing they need.

 

Speaker 1  42:12

Yeah, do you want to talk a little bit more about the things that you did as far as healing your brains? Now you mentioned you, you changed your diet, you allowed yourself to take rest as much as needed. What are some of the other things that you did?

 

Kevin Donahue  42:25

You know, I, like, I started with some activity, just not, like, heavy weight lifting, like I did before, and, you know, and then I ended up putting myself also, you know, the what was, what's the new name? It was called brain state before. Oh, Sarah set, Sarah set, that was a big piece of it. And then I ended up going through the plasticity brain center. So I put myself through that program as well. And these are, you know, people that go through that. A lot of them are hockey players, but also, you know, and this is where I really kind of understood, like, the impact of what they were doing. There was, like, a five year old boy that was there, and that was going in front of me, and the five year old boy had fallen into his grandfather's pool when the grandfather was babysitting wasn't watching him. Pulled him out, you know, kid was unconscious, and they took him to a hospital in Miami, and you know, they said, your kid's gonna be a vegetable the rest of his life. Took him to another specialist. They said the same thing. And then they took him to Carrick, you know, and Matt Antonucci, and they said, okay, yeah, your son has brain damage, but he has area of his brains that aren't damaged. Let's access those and rewire his brain so he can be himself again. And I remember the story like the first day they went through the plasticity brain center, the kid smiled, and he hadn't smiled in months, you know? It was just like that, that that moment, and the kid was going through constant therapy, and it was expensive, but, you know, it was worth it. So I even did that. You know, they have the mark, the multi access rotational chair. They had all kinds of rehabilitation. Here's what was interesting about that as well. I remember I was doing an assessment, and then exercises assessment, and exercises twice a day, and I would go home at night wiped I mean, like I had run a marathon, or like I'd been squatting all day with weights, and because your brain rewiring, it was that it wipes you out, you know. So I did that as well. I did everything and anything. I read all of Dr Daniel Amen's book. I got my brain scanned by Dr Amen. He has clinics all over the country. I went out to his Costa Mesa clinic, met with Tana, got my brain scan and and, you know, it's funny too, because I always wondered if I was suffering from ADD or ADHD. I always felt like I was. And Ayman, at the time, he wasn't doing any diagnosis, but he looked at my scans and he he said, Yeah, Kevin, you do have ADD ADHD, I could definitely see you had a concussion. At some point, looks like you're doing well now, though, you know. And so Amen is a psychologist, and he tries to cure brain ailments, including addictions and these types of things with nutrition. And so, you know, acetyl carnitine. Phosphodiesterian, like all these brain supplements, I was taking lots of those as well, but I was going to leave no stone left unturned. I'm like, whatever resource it takes. I'll go broke pursuing healing, because I want to know what's on the other side of this brain injury. And boy, am I glad I did. Yeah, absolutely. Because,

 

Dr. Ayla Wolf  45:21

you know, you can't put a price tag on your brain health.

 

Kevin Donahue  45:25

Well, no, that, I mean, that's, there's a saying, a man with his health has 1000 wishes. A man without his health has one, you know, and the wishes to get your health back. And that really hit home for me when I had my brain injury. I'm like, Oh my gosh. And also, how important brain health was, we forget about this as we go through life, we have no idea how important our brain is.

 

Dr. Ayla Wolf  45:46

You talk a lot about transformation, you do a lot of public speaking. What would be the one thing you'd want to leave people with today?

 

Kevin Donahue  45:55

So I think one of the big things is have a big vision for your life, like nothing in the way you know, like forget about whatever it costs, whatever it does. Have a vision for your life that blows you away. And if you want to take it to the next level, get yourself a journal. And don't just journal about today. I call it remembering the future, or future journaling. Put on the calendar October 18, 2026, on your, on your in your journal, and then start writing as if you're there. Here I am in Bali. I can't believe I just surfed the ways of Uluwatu. I'm here with my wife and my son. Blah blah blah blah blah blah. Write it all out as if it's already happened, because we're paving our neural pathways for this vision. You know, I mentioned I was on the island with Richard Branson. Six years before that, I had cut out a picture of Richard Branson. I just let I read his autobiography losing my virginity, and I said, I got to meet this guy. He's so interesting, and I want to meet this guy. And then, sure enough, six years later, I get a call, Hey, man, well, actually, it was four years later I got a call. Hey, we'd like to have dinner with Richard Branson. I'm like, Yeah, with Richard Branson. I'm like, Yeah, sure, there was a Island. I'm not, it's not magic. But even doing business with the White House, like I was living in Washington, DC, I'm like, what would be the ultimate client, White House, six months later, I'm in, you know, the National Security Council office right next to the White House. And I sold the White House their email archiving system, which they use to this day, right? Like, my point is, have a big vision for your life, because you never know what happens like, you know, it's like talking about shooting for the moon, even if you miss, you'll be amongst the stars. And the other piece of this is, you know, book, the ticket, the rest will work itself out like, and this is a motto of mine. I always buy one way tickets, you know. And the trip doesn't start when you arrive at the destination. It starts as soon as you book the ticket. You know, if you're going to go to you say, and you have to know a couple things, like, here's how people live their lives. Many people, oh, I want to travel one day. Well, what does that mean? You can travel the grocery store like and so they don't get specific enough, you know, if you want to plant a garden, you have to know specifically what you want to grow. You know, you gotta know the soil. You gotta know things. So then people say, Oh, I like to go to Europe. Well, Europe's a big place, France, okay, well, there's lots of airports in France too. Which airport

 

Dr. Ayla Wolf  48:20

you want to land it Paris. Be specific.

 

Kevin Donahue  48:23

Yeah, right. We're halfway there. And the second side of that is the win. Oh, one day I want to travel. Not good enough 2026 I want to know June 15, at two o'clock, I'm going to board a plane to Paris, France, and I 100% guarantee you will be ready when that day comes, you will arrive in Paris. I promise you, it all works itself out. But you just got to book the ticket. Because what happens is you start telling people, I'm going to France. Oh, I know someone in France. Oh, you should meet this. Oh, you should go here. You know, Do this, do that. And my wife and I, when we travel to a new city, we always take the bike tour. First thing we get off the plane, and then what happens there is you get to see all the sites on a bike, a little bit jet lagged, and you meet people, and they tell you where to go, you know. So it's like book the ticket. The rest works itself out. And have a big vision for your life. Have the courage to do a future journal you know about whatever your life, whatever life you want to you want to live. It's your life. It's your opportunity that this is what I was most afraid about when I had my brain injury, because I've been this way for 20 plus years, 25 years, you know, I left a career in DC. I moved to Costa Rica for two years because I had some big goals. I wanted to learn to speak Spanish. I wanted to surf every day. I wanted to get closer to my faith. I wanted to do mission work, and I wanted to be an immigrant, right? And I said, Okay, what's the one place I could do all five Costa Rica. I ended up getting, getting rid of everything I owned, and a year later, I was living in Costa Rica, and now I speak fluent Spanish. You know what I'm saying is, this is the essence of transformation. And when I had my brain injury, I was really afraid. That my imagination was dead, my future vision, my executive thinking was done forever. I was really afraid of that, and so, but that muscle and that, that neurological pathway of the brain, it has to be exercised, even if you're brain injured, even if you're not right like it has to be exercised. And so I just encourage everyone listening to this to start doing that. Pick a big destination, book a ticket that you would never normally book, and watch your life like thrive.

 

Dr. Ayla Wolf  50:32

You know, I have a confession, which is that I listen to Graham Cochran. He's like a busy he does a lot of really good YouTube videos on just business development and inspirational guy. And he said, at one point, kind of, in one of his programs, make a list of 50 dreams that you have, like, there's no no barriers. Just make a list of 50 things you'd like to have in your life, or see happen in your life. And I sat down, and I had such a hard time coming up with 25 I couldn't, I couldn't do it. And it to me, it just said, wow, like I have lost the ability to dream. And you know, one of the things on my list was write a book. So out of my list I could, I did cross one thing off. I wrote a book. I crossed that off, but I couldn't even come up with 50 dreams or things that I'd like to say as mundane as they might even be, I couldn't even come up with 50. And I just said, Wow, I need to work on this.

 

Kevin Donahue  51:28

Well, 5050, is a lot, you know. But here's the thing too, is I put a timer on it. I do it 15 minutes, and just write. And who cares what you write? Just write, write, write, write. Then you go back through and you sort through the 50, and you pick the top 10, and then at top 10, you circle the top five, and those top fives are are must haves, meaning, like this is going to happen no matter what. And then what I would say is take it to the next level, do a vision board around so, you know, I'll just kind of go back to what I was saying before about when I was in Washington, DC. I was in Penthouse condominium in Arlington, Virginia, overlooking DC, and my clients were the who's who, ci, FBI, Secret Service, World Bank, blah, blah, blah, right? I was successful, but I was a little depressed, little sad, you know? And I prayed, and it came to me, if you had, if you could do five things with your life, nothing in the way. What would you do? Like, good question. I mentioned I'd surf every day. Looked out my window, no waves on the Potomac. You know, I learned to speak Spanish. I get closer to my faith. I do mission work with the poorest of the poor, and I would immigrate to a foreign country. So what I the next thing was like, Okay, what's the one thing you could do? All five things, Costa Rica. I put a map of Costa Rica on my bathroom mirror. Why my bathroom mirror?

 

Dr. Ayla Wolf  52:45

You look at it every day. It

 

Kevin Donahue  52:47

was looking at me every day. Yes, I could see it, but it was staring at me. You coming for me? I just tell you something. Ayla, at the time, I was about $2 million in debt, not bad debt. It was American debt. I had rent, I had a properties I invested in. I had a SBA loan for a business. I started all kinds of things, you know, and Benjamin Franklin said there's two ways to get rich, ones to spend less, the others to earn more. Fast fastest to do both. Right? So I cut out all my expenses. I rented out my penthouse condominium and went homeless. Now I wasn't homeless. I was living out of my spa and tanning. Slim had opened up my room one at night, and I just went all in. I said, I don't care. I didn't tell anyone either. I told one friend who I was going to Costa Rica was like, do it, because everyone else like, You're crazy. What are you doing? Stop that. Are you out of your mind? I am. A year later, I was in Costa Rica perfecto, pero no Costa Rica per los aylas, like, my faith became real, not religion. I did mission work, like I had mentioned, but I've done that mission work all over the world, including in Ecuador. One of the things we were doing in Ecuador was the mission trip. And then I immigrated to foreign country. It changed my life. I lived down there for two years. I went from CEO to surfer dude. Like my hair was like down to my shoulders, I changed my life radically, right? So you just have to take those kind of leaps in life, and it all depends on where you are and what you want to do and what your vision is, you know. And so now my vision has changed significantly. I love living in Nashville. I can't believe the relationship I have with my wife and the family I've created and all of those things, but I'm always looking to level up. So, you know, that's what I would encourage people to do, is like, think of the five things that if you could do nothing in the way, what would that be? And then think of the one thing that could help you move towards those five things. I mean, listen, and then nothing gets in the way. I was driving to Costa Rica from Arlington, Virginia, my Toyota Forerunner, and I was driving, and at some point there was a military coup in Honduras. I heard on the radio or the news, well, you had to drive through Honduras to get to Costa Rica. And I was like, oh, man, so I called my friend at the State Department. He said, We don't know what's going on down there. I wouldn't recommend driving through. Well, my goal wasn't to drive there, it was to get there. So I ended up parking my Toyota Forerunner at a friend's house in Austin, and flew down and bought a Nissan Pathfinder down there. Like, once you have that in your site, you're in your site. I got involved with a non denominational church down there. Got involved with the hands and feet ministry, and it just changed my life forever. So you know, and you can learn Spanish anywhere, but immersion is the best, right? So became a fluent Spanish speaker, and it's like one of the greatest adventures of my life, you know. And so like, but this goes for anything like this. Is why I was saying, like, concussion, transformation, overcoming the number one silent, secret killer of relationships, careers and lives, and then going on serving people you know, coming on podcasts like this to spread the good news about, hey, here's what's possible. Yes, I know you might be suffering, or you might have a family member who's suffering, here's how we can help them heal.

 

Dr. Ayla Wolf  55:52

Yeah, wow. So what's next with for you? What is your next big thing?

 

Kevin Donahue  55:56

Well, you know, I started a company about a year and a half ago with a former FBI supervisory agent called stealth family. So, you know, we're dealing with the cyber threat for families, high net worth, individuals, family offices, financial advisors. You know, how do you protect your most important asset, your family? You know, the cyber threat is ever changing, ever looming, and it's pretty wild. You know, it's no longer stranger danger. We all carry around these devices in our pocket, which gives anyone all over the world access to us or our kids or our aging parents, you know. So that's been my latest project, and working on a couple things in AI and I have another book that is just about finished, and it's called Captivate his soul. And the subtitle there is discovering the one simple phrase that will make any manuals forever. It's for women, okay? Motor, yeah, and it's about, you know, it's about, it's kind of a treatise on, on femininity, you know, and like and masculinity, like, how to access femininity, because Western culture has kind of destroyed it, you know, and masculinity as well. So, and my premise there is femininity is the most powerful force in the universe. Like use it. I've got a couple projects in the works, you know, and so, but my greatest project now is being a father to my little guy, who's about two and a half, and that's been just a pure joy.

 

Dr. Ayla Wolf  57:14

Awesome, awesome. Well, it has been such a pleasure to talk to you and to get to hear your story more, and I know people will really benefit from being able to see what somebody can do in terms of transforming their life after going from being angry and completely feeling emotionally out of control to the level of intention that you bring to your life today. So thank you for sharing. Yeah, thank you for having

 

Kevin Donahue  57:39

me. I really appreciate it. Hopefully this has made a big impact. Made a big impact for for your audience. So thank you, Ayla, thank you for what you're doing.

 

Dr. Ayla Wolf  57:46

Ah, you'rewelcome. All right, have a great day.

​

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