A few words on Mrs. Cream

Excerpted from a piece I wrote which was published in HuffPost April 2024

On a Tuesday morning in 2006 in Duchess County, New York, a woman named Mrs. Cream ran out of beer.  She was drunk at 10 AM but not as drunk as she wanted to be, so she stole a truck to procure more.

On the way, she crushed a parked car. I was in the car.

It was a Code 4 emergency, which means my life was threatened. Then it wasn’t my life.

The good news was I survived.  The bad news was brain damage.

Years later, a neurologist said I suffered the same type of injury that former Representative Gabrielle Giffords suffered when she was shot in the head. 

Photograph of Judith Hannah Weiss, covering bruises not long after the accident

One moment, I was a freelance writer and a single mom – making dinner and deadlines all over the world, perking up headlines while picking up kids. The next, my brain was disconnected. So were my legs and my arms and my feet.

There's not much demand for brain damaged writers. Since I couldn’t comprehend, leave alone manage business affairs, an attorney completed my last career financial transaction which was refunding a fat five-figure advance to a client known from Burundi to Beverly Hills. 

Next, he sold the home we loved.

It felt like I had been thrown from a plane. Then it kept feeling that way. Movers I can’t recall packed boxes I can’t recall for a trip I can't recall. I landed east of somewhere and west of somewhere else.

Disabled people are the single largest minority in the world, and likely the least heard from. We are also the only minority anyone can join at any time.

You may wonder if “insurers” covered health care bills or compensated me for pain and suffering. The answer is No. 

Mrs. Cream had three prior DUIs and no longer had a license or insurance. Most of the massive medical bills were paid by me, or rather the Power of Attorney on my behalf. Health insurance did not/does not cover Motor Vehicle Accidents.