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By On March 11th, 2013

Gary Busey Helps Fundraiser For Traumatic Brain Injury

Back before Gary Busey became known for his antics, non-sequitors, and reality television, Gary Busey was a critically-acclaimed actor. Many forget how introspective and insightful Busey can be, but on Friday in Portland, Gary Busey was both of those things.

According to KGW.com, Busey was speaking at an Oregon fundraiser for brain injury, and it is easy to see how personal the subject is to him. Far from the volatile, excited Busey you see on the Celebrity Apprentice, he was very reserved when he told the crowd, “I don’t remember four and a half weeks of my life because the right side of my brain was not working.”

In 1988, Gary survived a terrible motorcycle wreck that brought him close to death, and the experience drastically impacted his life.

This isn’t the first fundraiser Busey has taken a part in to raise money for brain injury. He often takes time out of his busy schedule to help raise funds and awareness for the condition.

Many might try to say Busey’s wild antics are signs of him being some brain damaged old lunatic, but it is easy to see in these moments how intelligent and collected Busey actually is, and his film record immediately following his devastating accident shows how amazingly well he recovered. “The movie that I did right after the brain surgery was ‘Point Break,'” he remembered. “It was beautiful, the experience. My brain wasn’t damaged.”

After being one of the standout figures from his initial season on Celebrity Apprentice, Gary Busey has been invited back for the new All-Star Celebrity Apprentice. He hopes to use his opportunity to speak to Donald Trump about brain injury, and to spread awareness.

“It’s very important for me to let people know about traumatic brain injury. The idea now is to be like an apostle or a minister, going out and telling people what this is all about,” he said.

2 Responses

  1. M. vallens says:

    My 16 yr old daughter suffered a head injury, resulting in retrograde amnesia..
    Head injuries change lives and I have learned that the pers9n I knee before the injury no longer exists. We call Angies new personality her twin, the pers9n I know now is soft, polite and worried about offending others, the old Angie could have eaten Donald Trump for dinner and then demanded seconds.
    She is a performer who though has lost the last 5 yrs of her life she is still an amazing singer and actress …the stage and singing allow us to find her.. Aly Valles on you tube. She is local to La

  2. Johann Tshibangu says:

    Hello. I am writing you as a member of the Acquired Brain Injury Network of Pennsylvania. I am a brain injury survivor. I try to network with as many brain injury survivors as I can. In 2010 I was involved in a motor vehicle accident. The SUV I was driving flipped over and I flew out of the side window and smacked the front part of my head into the highway median leaving me with a brain injury that resulted in my right frontal lobe receiving damage leaving it smaller than my left frontal lobe. No one else was injured. I had bleeding in my brain leaving me in the hospital’s intensive care unit for one month. As a result my left lobe is compensating the right lobe of my brain that is no longer there. As you may know the Brain Injury Association of America is observing Brain Injury Awareness Day on March 16, 2016 on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. Maybe I will see you there. But, the question I have for you is for people who have experienced trauma what is it they have to do to live the best quality of life possible?
    Thank you.
    Johann Tshibangu

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