32-year old Zach Brooks from North Carolina was an intelligence officer for the Army National Guard. Like many of his fellow soldiers, he was deployed to Kuwait in 2016. However, unlike many of his fellow soldiers, Zach Brooks suffered from brain damage while deployed.
During his time in Kuwait Brooks was T-boned by a bus which caused his lungs to collapse and the veins in his skull to burst. This caused bleeding into his brain giving him the traumatic brain injury. Suffering from a massive stroke, Brooks was stricken of both memory as well as motor functions.
At Walter Reed National Military Medical Center the amnesia stuck with him, leaving Zach unable to remember who he was or even how to complete simple daily tasks. This forced Zach to take measures into his own hands, using the popular mobile game
Pokémon Go to help regain his memory and brain function. Why Pokémon Go?
"I pretty much had to look at things and say, 'Okay brain, you can't do this anymore, but you can find a new way'. The main things in regrowing brain tissue [are] reading, hand-eye coordination, and problem-solving. Games have all of these. [Playing Pokémon Go is] like Intel. You have to look at [your] assets, look at your opponent's assests, determine your opponents main course of action, then execute." - Retired Army National Guard Captain Zach Brooks
Zach isn't the first case of something like this. In the past 18 years over 380,000 troops have also been diagnosed with TBI. The Veterans Administration as well as the Pentagon have both been investing in research for diagnosis and treatment. The Army awared upwards of $4 million in contracts to small businesses to research and develop potential video game therapies for TBI between the years of 2009 and 2015.
Zach is happy to be able to spend time with his family, but is still limited to what he is able to do, being forced to retire as a Captain from the army. His wife also quit to help take care of him with his long term stroke effects, but he continues to work with
Pokémon and other video game therapies to keep himself in the best shape possible.
Get ready for an all-new Pokémon experience Pokémon Go opens a universe of Pokemon to find, catch, trade, and battle on your iPhone or Android device. With Pokémon Go, you'll discover Pokémon in a whole new world - your own!
Pokémon GO is currently available for Android and iOS devices.