Michael T, Writing His Own Future

By: Brett Rathbone

Michael T, author, was born in 1988, and had a severe traumatic brain injury when he was just 13 months old. He was in hospital for months and rehab for years.  He has been a CHIRS client since 2013.

Michael Tam, CHIRS client and published author, examines one of his books (we, at the Bugler, can attest that everything about Mr. Tam’s books is of the highest quality)

Michael’s injury affects his motor skills, vision, understanding and memory, but he is now a published author; the Brainy Bugler wanted to know how he did it.

Due to his injury, Michael did not get to participate in many of the activities enjoyed by other young people, but he developed a keen affection for animals, and enjoyed watching animated movies, especially those about animals. Sometimes story ideas or images would simply pop into his head, and he would quickly draw or scribble on paper or the computer before they popped back out again. Over the years, Michael started several stories coming from his own imagination, but each one had only a few pages and they weren’t finished. Eventually, they were all buried and forgotten. When he started telling people about his stories, Michael was encouraged to join a literacy program.  He decided to go to Project Read and was matched with a tutor who encouraged him to write about things he likes. Then, Michael remembered that he had some unfinished stories, including one called Panda Reunion, which he had started in 2013 after visiting the pandas at the zoo. His tutors coached him with vocabulary, grammar, sentence structure and paragraphs. He continued writing. It took two years to finish, and it was published as a novel in 2020.  It can be purchased through Michael’s publisher, Inclusion International’s web site, Inclusion.com. Panda Reunion can also be downloaded for free. In addition to writing the novel. Michael also did the illustrations.

He is rightly proud of what he has accomplished. It took some time, and it wasn’t easy, but now it is out there, bringing pleasure to young readers. We at the Brainy Bugler are also proud of what Michael has done, and what he continues to do. The next Panda adventure is due imminently, and one more is already taking shape in his vivid imagination. Michael is grateful for all the help and encouragement he has received. He hopes that someday Panda Reunion can be made into an animated movie. We would be first in line to buy tickets for that movie. In the meantime, Michael continues to write his own future. By his side is his Sheepadoodle, Luna, a sweet, black and white dog that, coincidentally, bears a striking resemblance to a Panda.

“The best thing about being an author,” he says, “is the chance to use your creativity every day, to develop characters and plot lines that are original, right out of your imagination. But it’s not always easy; developing plot lines for each character and tying those into the overall storyline takes a lot of thought and care.” As for advice to aspiring writers, Michael says, “Write about things you like, plan ahead, and just stick to it. One day, you’ll be able to say, ‘I did this.” We, at the Brainy Bugler add that you can try out your hand as a writer at the Friday morning CHIRS “Spill the Tea” journalling program. It’s fun. You can write your own future too!