IMAGINE N.O.W.
Imagine N.O.W., a Nevada nonprofit, was established to fill what we believe to be an urgent need to provide an effective and safe treatment to more than 700,000 Veterans returning from combat zones suffering from debilitating traumatic brain injury. This so-called invisible injury is characterized by persistent headache, dizziness, sleeplessness, loss of short-term memory, loss of executive function and bouts of anger and rage – all of which make it difficult to function normally, adapt socially or hold a job. Those servicemen and women suffering from traumatic brain injury are mustered out of the service immediately upon manifesting symptoms, notably loss of short-term memory, and left to fend for themselves in their return to civilian life.
Veterans suffering from traumatic brain injury find it’s difficult if not impossible to get or hold a job in the civilian world. Many remain jobless, some can be so difficult to live with that they lose the support of their spouses and families; some become homeless; others, depressed by an inability to cope and by VA-prescribed drugs, tragically commit suicide. Veteran suicide is so prevalent as to be epidemic, the Veterans Administration estimating in 2016 that Veterans commit suicide at a rate of 20 a day, a number many believe to be understated.
Veterans suffering from these seriously debilitating injuries can only receive the only treatment that works – hyperbaric oxygen therapy – through donation-based hyperbaric clinics of which there are way too few to treat the 700,000 or more Veterans who need it.
Chronic traumatic brain injury or concussion can lead to a condition known as Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) – a progressive degenerative disease found in people who have had a severe blow or repeated blows to the head. CTE has been most commonly found in professional athletes participating in American football as well as other contact sports such as rugby, ice hockey, boxing, professional wrestling, stunt performing, bull riding, rodeo, in which they experienced repeated concussions or other brain trauma. CTE can also affect high school athletes especially American football players following just a few years of activity. The presence of repeated concussion in domestic violence is being investigated.
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy has been successfully used to treat brain trauma, concussion, post-concussion syndrome and some post-traumatic stress disorder whether incurred by Veterans, NFL Athletes, first responders, domestic violence victims or, as is common, in slipping and falling accidents. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy can return those with traumatic brain Injury or concussion and return them to normal function. It is the single most effective treatment available and has proven effective as late as 50 years after the injury.
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy is the use of high pressure oxygen as a drug to treat basic pathophysiologic processes and their diseases. Acutely, it has been proven to be the most powerful inhibitor of reperfusion injury which is the injury that occurs when blood flow is resumed to tissue previously deprived of blood. This is thought to be one of the primary mechanisms of hyperbaric oxygen therapy in acute global ischemia, anoxia and coma.
Chronically, hyperbaric oxygen therapy acts as a signal inducer of DNA to effect trophic (growth) tissue changes. Among the demonstrated effects in chronic wounding is the development of new blood vessels. However, in the brain preliminary animal evidence seems to suggest it has more of an adaptive effect on metabolism and blood flow.
Dr. Harch has used hyperbaric oxygen therapy to treat more than 70 different cerebral disorders, including stroke, dementia, autism and traumatic brain injury. For more information see The Oxygen Revolution: Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy: The Groundbreaking New Treatment for Stroke, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Arthritis, Autism, Learning Disabilities and More (HBOT.com: Harch, 2016).
IMAGINE N.O.W. plans to install hyperbaric oxygen treatment chambers in medical centers as well as in Spas, Gyms and athletic centers around the country to treat acute concussion and return Veterans, first responders, athletes and other brain-injured victims to normal function.
Gala – October 8 2016. Pay It Forward Network International hosted an Inaugural Gala and fund raiser for Imagine N.O.W. at the Theater Saturday October 8, 2016, to introduce Imagine N.O.W. to the community and to raise funds to establish the Imagine N.O.W. Veteran Hyperbaric Treatment Center in Las Vegas.
The Gala was headlined by Master of Ceremonies Fielding West, comedian-musician and son of a WWII bomber pilot. The cast included such stars as Gordie Brown, Lance Burton, Gene & Heidi Sironin, Brian Havens and Lori Simpson, Ray Allaire and others. Attendees also heard from John Logan, a Vietnam Veteran, who suffered traumatic brain injury in 1967 and who was treated successfully with hyperbaric oxygen therapy in 20111 and restored to full function.
