TBI Survivors
Stories of Resilience
Alexa Casciano
Survivor and Marathon Competitor
Alexa Casciano is a brain surgery survivor and marathon runner who turned her life-threatening battle with Lemierre’s Syndrome into a mission to give back. After undergoing two lung surgeries and an emergency brain surgery in 2018, and a second brain surgery in 2025, she ran the Los Angeles and New York City Marathons, raising over $4,000 for the Brain Injury Association of New York State. She runs by the motto “do it for those who can’t,” honoring survivors who continue to fight every day. Alexa graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2023. She began her career as an analyst at Goldman Sachs and is now the Director of Applied AI for a boutique healthcare consulting firm. She splits her time between New York City and South Florida.
Scott Albrecht
Survivor and Artist
Scott Albrecht is an artist currently living in Brooklyn, NY. Perhaps best known for his wood relief pieces and murals, Scott also works in a variety of other mediums, including steel, collage, and pen & ink. His work has been published and exhibited both domestically and internationally, and he has collaborated with clients including Google, Spotify, the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), Rag & Bone, Vans, PayPal, and Ballantine’s.
Craig Philips
Author, counselor, developer
Craig Philips holds a masters degree as a rehabilitation counselor. He is the author and creator of Second Chance to Live and The Second Chance to Live Trauma-Informed Care AI Collaboration Model™. Craig's focus is to encourage a holistic and ongoing brain injury process in mind, body, spirit, soul and emotions through trauma-informed care. Craig is training an AI model to create care agents that focus on supporting and not extracting vulnerable individuals.
Wyatt Buerkle
Student, Member of Columbia Synapse
Wyatt is a premedical postbaccalaureate student at Columbia University whose path toward medicine began in 2018 after experiencing a moderate traumatic brain injury. After four months of recovery, he returned to work and spent several years in grant and research administration supporting scientific teams. Throughout his recovery, and through meeting others who had experienced their own life-altering medical events, he came to understand the importance of truly compassionate, patient-focused care in shaping a person’s healing.
Ultimately, these experiences, along with the deep care and respect he holds for both clinicians and patients, led him back to the classroom in 2024 to pursue the prerequisites for medical school. His goal is to provide care that supports and empowers patients in their unique journeys in whatever capacity he can.
