How a Traumatic Brain Injury Led Pro Athletes Brandon Scheid and Sensi Graves to Find Gratitude and New Perspectives on Life

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What if the day you faced a life-threatening sports injury was one of the best days of your life? And what does that mean for your loved ones?

Married couple Sensi Graves and Brandon Scheid are professional wind sport athletes. Sensi is a pro kiter, kiteboarding retreat host, founder of Sensi Graves Swim sustainable swimwear, and empowerment speaker.

Brandon is a pro athlete and kite designer, as well as a survivor of a recent traumatic brain injury who’s been coming to terms with his injuries and, in his words, “the complications of a life addicted to the shred.”

We talk about...

Brandon’s November 2023 speed flying accident that could’ve killed him

  • Managing risk in this subset of paragliding, even when you know people who’ve died doing it

  • Sensi’s perspective of her husband’s speed flying passion

  • How Brandon got “addicted” to a flow state in a high-risk situation (like jumping off mountains to fly down)

  • How Brandon had monitored conditions and assessed a plan for flying that day

  • Analyzing the accident as a pro athlete: What happened when Brandon and his wing hit the cliff and how his decision-making may have saved his life

  • Fracturing his pelvis and back after falling at 60mph and crashing into a cliff

  • Two brain injuries: one on the right frontal temporal lobe (leading to behavioral issues, judgment, criticism, anger, and lack of compassion, especially towards Sensi)

  • Another injury on the lizard brain’s pons: 70% of people die from that injury

Sensi’s experience in the wake of Brandon’s accident

  • Feeling “Why me, why this, why now?”

  • Being in Canada when she got the call that her husband was getting life-flighted to the hospital

  • Getting the phone call that Brandon might not survive

  • Being in the hospital with Brandon after an induced coma and a brain injury

  • The more you experience the hard parts of life, the more you can experience the great parts

The early days of traumatic brain injury recovery

  • Not remembering anything between the crash and days post-coma

  • How the hospital staff had to keep restraints on Brandon, and he surprised nurses by breaking his catheter

  • Losing 40 pounds in 2.5 weeks

  • How his post-accident brain feels like being on MDMA constantly and experiencing mania

  • Emotions are coming back but Brandon can still access manic states

Why Brandon is grateful for his death-defying crash

  • How hitting the ground was the second most impactful moment of his life (after learning to kite)

  • Replacing speed flying with playing piano, the concertina, sewing, and flying “first person view” drones

  • Flying FPV drones as a direct replacement for speed flying: getting adrenaline rushes and feeling like he’s flying

  • “The universe isn’t happening to us, it’s happening for us.”

Discovering 2 weeks after the accident that Sensi is pregnant

  • Brandon was in the rehab facility when Sensi took a test

  • Sensi’s nervousness about experiencing trauma while pregnant

  • Brandon’s positive reaction to finding out about the pregnancy, which was different than his attitude around become a father pre-accident

  • How Sensi feels like this baby is meant to be

  • Being almost 6 months pregnant at recording and feelings around the journey

  • Feeling incredibly lucky to be pregnant in a world where people have intense challenges

  • How Brandon thinks he’ll approach managing risk in sports with a child

Gratitude and new perspectives on life after the accident

  • The importance of living aligned with values, and how Sensi leans on her values to get through seasons of life

  • What Brandon and Sensi would tell people who are afraid of experiencing a life-changing injury or illness

  • How to support loved ones going through a life-changing injury or illness

  • Gratitude and perspective practices to move through challenging times

  • Learning to let yourself be held and supported by other people

  • Trusting that despite all the challenges and hard work, everything is going to be okay


PSST! If you like this episode, you’ll love these two:

How a Mountaineering Accident Taught Doug Beardsley to Live Life to the Fullest

How Pro Kitesurfer Jason Slezak Stopped Chasing Highs to Avoid His Past Trauma and Changed His Approach to Sports and Mental Health.


How to connect with Sensi and Brandon:

How to connect with Jeni and Angie:

Please rate and review For The Love Of:

Music: The Kind of Sandwich Island by Shut-ins

Thank you to The Ruins, the best wedding venue in Oregon, for supporting the show.

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