About Me

Hi there! My name is Carrie and I'm the baker behind Wish Flower Bakery (formerly Brain Damaged Bakery). Here you will find custom cakes and cupcakes for any occasion. I‘m a hobby baker, and I pride myself on working with each customer to create the perfect unique flavor combination and cake design to suit your needs.

I currently live in Cypress, TX with my husband and 2 girls, ages 7 and 8. I spent 15 years working in Accounting & Finance for a Fortune 100 company. I was climbing the corporate ladder, and doing a pretty good job of juggling being a working momma and bean counting boss lady when my life took a dramatic turn.

An MRI revealed a mass in my brain at the end of June 2019, and 5 days later I  went in for a craniotomy. While they were able to fully remove the brain tumor, the resection didn't quite go as planned because the tumor had started to grow into my brain stem. There were unexpected complications that left me on a ventilator and fighting for my life in the ICU for 34 days. After 74 days in the hospital, I finally came home with permanent brain damage and one hell of a survivor story.

The damage to my brain stem and cranial nerves left my tongue, throat, and vocal chords paralyzed, which meant I was completely unable to eat or drink by mouth. I also had impaired speech, bouncing vision, trouble with visual shifting and visual focus, terrible migraines, dizziness, low blood pressure, and an impaired digestive system. When I came home from the hospital, everything was a challenge. I had to learn how to navigate my new world. A world filled with pain, physical challenges, medications, feeding tubes, breathing treatments, wound and tracheotomy care, wheelchairs and walkers...and in the midst of all that, trying to take care of my (then) 1-year-old and 3-year-old. 

Since I couldn't eat, I became obsessed with thoughts of food. Food was all around me all of the time. It’s engrained in so much of what we do, and I felt robbed of the joy of eating it. I had 2 choices...either let my food deprivation drive me to the brink of insanity, or channel it into something more positive. As 2019 came to an end, I wanted to celebrate the fact that the hardest year of my life was over, so I decided to bake a big cake from scratch for New Year’s Eve. Yep, it was the FIRST time I had ever baked a cake from scratch (and not from a box mix). That cake was the spark that ignited a new passion. I started baking more and more, and I found out that I’m actually pretty darn good at it! Who knew an Accountant could bake?!? The process of baking and the happiness it brought to other people was therapeutic. I found healing in baking.

After 22 months of intense rehab and therapy, I was finally able to swallow again!!! YAY! An accomplishment that is truly miraculous. And it means that I now get to have my cake and eat it too! I know that nothing will be the same as before my tumor. I'll never be the old Carrie again. And while daily life is certainly harder, that doesn't mean it's worse. There's still lots of joy and cake to be had!

My ultimate goal is to open a non-profit bakery that hires people with Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBIs), as a way to spread a sense of purpose and pride to other people like me. The icing on the cake would be to create a program that partners with an Outpatient Rehab center and students studying to become rehab therapists, to create an environment where TBI patients and students can learn from each other while baking. It’s an ambitious goal, and I know it may be years away, but just think of all the good it could do! 

  Wish Flower Bakery was formerly called Brain Damaged Bakery. I recently changed the name because I feel like I’ve developed as a baker beyond just overcoming the limitations of my brain damage. I’ll always be The Brain Damaged Baker, but it doesn’t define my life like it once did. 

I chose the dandelion because it’s a symbol of resilience, strength and overcoming adversity. When my kids were younger, they started calling dandelions “wish flowers”. Where adults see an annoying weed, kids see something fun and playful. I thought that was such a beautiful expression of how a positive perspective can make ALL the difference. I feel like that’s the perspective I chose during my recovery.