The NeuroNerds: A Brain Injury Recovery & Pop Culture Show

It’s host Joe Borges’ birthday and with moving to a new home plus co-host Lauren Manzano being tied up, he’s doing a special JoSoloRocks episode. He reflects on the move, his birthday, his plans for the future of The NeuroNerds and YouSoRocks as well as shouts out his survivor community that has helped him tremendously with his recovery.

Better late than never, co-host Lauren has finally seen *Star Wars: The Last Jedi* so naturally she and co-host Joe are diving deep into Star Wars nerdom in this episode. (Spoiler alerts for all things Star Wars!) They’re talking Star Wars past, present and future. What’s your favorite Star Wars movie? Share with us on Twitter and Instagram!

Wouldn’t it be great to have a conference or meet-up with fellow stroke and brain injury survivors!? Co-hosts Joe and Lauren discuss ideas of just that in this latest episode. Plus they list their favorite fictional teams/support groups in comics, TV, movies and books.

It’s been a tough week with the loss of public figures, Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain to suicide. Last episode’s discussion of mental health continues with a focus on suicide prevention. Co-hosts Joe and Lauren share their own personal stories and struggles with mental health and how to find help to get through it.

Co-hosts Joe and Lauren were so busy focusing on Stroke Awareness Month in May that they didn’t get a chance to touch on the fact that May was also Mental Health Awareness Month so they’re diving into discussing it in this week’s episode. They both talk about their personal struggles with mental health as well as more about Joe’s stroke recovery journey and how it affects him mentally.

WARNING: Spoiler alert (again)! Joe and Lauren have a lot to process about the Avengers: Infinity War and they couldn’t fit it all in last week’s episode so this is part 2 of their reviews, theories and reactions to Infinity War. So process all the emotions and tears along with them and let us know what were your favorite parts of the movie!

WARNING: Spoiler alert! In this episode, The NeuroNerds are talking all about their feelings, reactions and favorite parts of *Avengers: Infinity War*. It’s also Stroke Awareness Month which is really important especially to host, Joe who suffered a hemorrhagic stroke almost two years ago. Joe and co-host Lauren will be offering some advice and tips on how to spot a stroke early on and what to do if you or someone you love is experiencing a stroke.

Lauren is back! It’s a reunion episode and Joe is so happy to have his co-host back from Spain. They talk about her trip, Joe’s creepy birthday voicemail and how learning a new language can help with the brain injury recovery process even if it’s a fictional language from Lord of the Rings or Star Trek. Plus they discuss reading vs listening to audio books and the brain’s relationship to language.

It’s a Joe Solo episode! Today’s show is hosted by our host Joe and an occasional bark from his service dog, Stella. He’s talking all about the challenges of recovering from a brain injury and how the journey, even with a support system and caregivers, can still feel lonely at times. It can be difficult for non-brain injury survivors to relate, but that’s why Joe is working hard to create community of support through his blog JoeSoRocks.com and YouSoRock Facebook group. He offers tips for coping and overall hope and motivation to keep persevering through your own brain injury recovery journey to not just survive, but thrive!

With co-host Lauren Manzano, still traveling abroad, this week’s episode features another guest co-host, Sleep Deez with host Joe Borges on-location at Coachella Music Festival. Sleep is a multi-platinum producer and just happens to also be the composer of The NeuroNerds podcast theme song so he is the perfect person to review the performances at the festival. Joe and Sleep discuss their favorite Coachella shows from Beyonce to Alt-J to Jorja Smith plus Sleep’s personal experience with a family member battling a neurological disorder. They also explore how even through brain injuries and disorders, music can still often be remembered and its familiarity comforts and helps with the healing process. Mental deficits and affects of various brain injuries are also touched on as well as Joe’s trick for battling overstimulation when in public, especially in crowded settings like Coachella.

With our co-host, Lauren, traveling abroad, this week’s episode features guest co-host Felice LaZae. Felice is our host, Joe’s long time girlfriend and partner in crime. They discuss the stroke recovery journey from Felice’s perspective as Joe’s caregiver and support system. Joe’s dissociative episodes are also explored and compared to Bruce Banner and the Hulk. Plus Felice and Joe offer tips and advice on how to help your loved one when they’re facing a medical crisis like a stroke or other brain injury.

One of the biggest fears on the path of recovery from a stroke and/or brain injury is reverting. In this episode, Joe and Lauren discuss their own personal struggles and fears with reverting either in their recovery progress or reverting back to bad habits and negative mindsets they had before their brain injuries. They cover the importance of reframing, accepting their new “normal” and celebrating every victory no matter how small it may seem. Various characters throughout fiction and fandom, who have famously battled reverting on their hero’s journey, are also explored.

“Be the hero of your own story, but not as your origin story for being a villain.” The super villains discussion continues from last week’s episode in today’s episode 7, part 2 of ‘Chillin With The Villains’. Joe and Lauren compare one-note villains to villains with purpose and try to pinpoint what characteristics make a villain truly great. They also touch on some of Joe’s recovery stories that relate to his favorite villains. Who’s your favorite villains and why?

We all have villains we love to hate. The main thing that makes a super villain great is their relatability. As the Joker once said to Batman, “all it takes is one bad day, that’s how far the world is from where I am.” In this episode, Joe and Lauren discuss their favorite villains in comics and cinema from Loki to Mr. Freeze to The Terminator to Killmonger. They also touch on the power of the mind to create your own inner villain or hero and how refocusing on the positive versus the negative can be the difference between just surviving and thriving in your brain injury recovery journey.

Who is your support group or mentor on your stroke and/or brain injury recovery journey? In this episode, Joe and Lauren discuss how important it is to reach out for help on the path to recovery. They share the struggles they had with asking for help and how having a support team made the whole recovery process easier to face. Just like every great super hero has a team or mentor, a brain injury survivor hero needs their team and mentors as well so Joe and Lauren delve deep into some of the best super hero and fictional support teams and mentors of all time.

The Avengers: Infinity War trailer just came out this past week and Joe and Lauren have a lot to say about it! In this episode, they share their review of the trailer, predictions for the movie and overall excitement about it’s release. They also get into some memory issues Joe was experiencing this past week and how he coped plus a really special story from one of our listeners who could relate personally to Joe’s latest blog post, ‘My Doctor Strange Moment & The Occupational Therapist Who Helped Fix Me.’

Diving more into Joe and Lauren’s nerdom, in this episode, The NeuroNerds cover all their deepest and nerdiest interests from their nerdy nicknames, Hogwarts Houses, their origin stories and more. Joe shares how gaming helped with his recovery and how he came to terms with accepting the scar he sustained from surgery due to his stroke by turning it into a literal badge of honor with a commemorative Harry Potter/Star Wars inspired tattoo. Plus Lauren and Joe share more tips from their recovery processes.

March is Brain Injury Awareness Month and co-hosts Joe Borges and Lauren Manzano dedicate most of this episode to sharing their brain injury stories as well as spreading more awareness on how to decrease your chance of having a stroke; what to do in the event of a brain injury plus how to know the signs; and post stroke and concussion depression along with other symptoms you may experience after suffering a brain injury.

This is the first episode of The NeuroNerds podcast and in honor of the premiere, this is an extended episode in length. Co-hosts and fellow brain injury survivors, Joe Borges and Lauren Manzano, introduce themselves and share their brain injury stories as well as explain what The NeuroNerds podcast is all about which is to create a community for like-minded nerds and fans of pop culture who have suffered from brain injuries.