I have been playing schoolyard football my whole life and received my first concussion on the playground in 5th grade. After being escorted via ambulance to the hospital that day, I would not be aloud to play football until 8th grade.Things were going well, until my sophomore year, during a period of hitting drills and conditioning known as hell week, I sustained another concussion. It was not nearly as bad as the one as the one from the playground, but I still sat out the next two weeks including our first scrimmage. It was then our first game, my first game back and, in the 3rd quarter, I sustained another concussion after a helmet to helmet collision making the tackle on the running back. This time my body collapsed and I momentarily lost eye sight as I briefly lay motionless on the field. I got up and did what I thought was right, play the next play. Luckily, the next play did not go my way and I did not hit anybody. My teammates seeing that I was not right in the head, would not let me play anther play, so I ran to the sideline clearly upset. This would prove to be the last time I ever ran back to the sidelines from a play; a career ending concussion.
After going to multiple physicians, sports doctors, neurologists, physical therapists, and countless trainers, I was diagnosed with PCS, Post Concussion Syndrome. My symptoms of headaches, sensitivity to light, mood swings, memory loss, focus issues, blurred vision, and irritability would prolong for about 14 months after the hit. I could not run or do anything physically exerting for about 8 of those months. Sports was my life, an athlete was who I was, so this would prove to be the most difficult part. During these months I had a lot of time to conduct my own research online on concussions and PCS. Although I would never play football again, it was an opportunity for me to educate my self on the topic. I had grown very interested not only in concussions and concussion prevention, but the sports medicine field as a whole. I consider my self very lucky to still have a cognitive brain. There are some out there who, especially while playing football, are not so lucky. I want to raise awareness to the seriousness of head injuries, and to educate others and myself to the repercussions of repeated head injuries in sports. We can save lives by simply being more aware to those players who MIGHT have a sustained a concussion.
