Franklin Artist Shines Light on Brain Injury with Library Exhibit

By J.D. O’Gara

Last month, on March 7th, Franklin artist Ali Rheaume opened her exhibit, “Look Up,” at the Franklin Public Library. The series of colorful painted clouds shone a light Rheaume’s path back from sustained brain injury. Rheaume was joined by Miss Blackstone Valley, Hunter Schulz, who, too, rebuilt her own life after sustained brain injury. The presentation talked of journey, hope, and faith. 

“Part of this journey for me, sustaining a brain injury, has been just having hope and believing that God still has a purpose and plan for this life,” said Rheaume, who felt spiritually led to create the series. “I call this ‘Look Up,” because with everything I’ve been through, God’s been with me every step of the way. Every painting has a scripture associated with it. Clouds are God’s creations.”

The artist explained that she was barely able to pick up a paintbrush the first time she ever painted, during her inpatient rehabilitation from her brain injury, which happened in 2016 and was exacerbated by later events. The then-schoolteacher and high school coach was accidentally struck in the face by a commercial door.

“I was told, ‘You have a concussion, go home, and you’ll be fine,’” said Rheaume, “But I went to bed and woke up a completely different person. I had delayed speech, stuttered speech, dizziness, headaches, a whole gamut of concussion symptoms.” Although she took the summer off and tried to teach that fall, she found the routine difficult. Then, at the end of 2016, Rheaume sustained an additional brain injury simply standing up too quickly and hitting her head on a shelf. 

“It hit the top of my head and cut it, and then I experienced a severe medication reaction at the same time, a whole perfect storm of events, I ended up in the hospital at a 10% functioning level, unable to talk, walk, eat, do anything myself,” Rheaume explained. After a week in the hospital and a month at Spaulding Rehab, lack of insurance coverage forced her home with 24/7 family care, but a month later, she was back at the Neuro ICU. 

“From that point forward, I spent nine years rehabbing. I had to relearn how to walk, to talk, to dress,” says Rheaume, who says she “refused to listen” to doctors’ talk of limitations. Believing God can heal anyone, Rheaume said, “I’m here to embrace hope and to share the vibrancy of what life can be even after going through something so traumatic.”

Rheaume introduced Hunter Schulz, Miss Blackstone Valley, as sharing the experience of “having our lives completely flipped upside down and having to figure out  what life looks like again and what you can do again,” said Rheaume.

Schulz was recently crowned Miss Blackstone Valley through the Miss America organization and will represent the brain injury community at the Miss Massachusetts competition in June.

“My initiative is called ‘Let’s Talk Beauty and Brains; Brain Injury Advocacy,’” Schulz told attendees. Schulz’s own brain injury happened by a freak accident. After she released a bee trapped inside the car, “I hit my head on the way back in, and then, later in the day, I hit it again on the same side.” I had to re-learn how to walk and speak again. It’s the most challenging thing that’s ever happened in my life, and I’ve met such wonderful people through the brain injury community, like Ali,” said Schulz.

Rheaume’s silver lining?

“I feel so much more present in the world and appreciate every little detail of it,” says the artist, “Sustaining a brain injury has led me to slow down, so I see the beauty in things that I just used to pass by.”

In addition to her exhibit at the Franklin Public Library last month, Rheaume was keynote speaker at The Brain Injury Alliance of CT, and she will also be keynote speaker at the Brain Injury Association of New Hampshire on May 14th. She will be also be presenting a guest lecture series  for the Brain Injury Association of MA, with “Embracing a Growth Mindset” virtually on June 12th at 10 a.m. Rheaume is a member of the Franklin Commission on Persons with Disabilities, and she facilitates Rise Up, a monthly social hour meetup for individuals living with disabilities. For more information on Rheaume, her artwork and advocacy, visit at https://alirheaume.com.