Suddenly torn from sports, a major life change to factor in for the future

Injuries are a part of sports, and concussions are common. No athlete wants to suffer an injury, and most athletes want to get back to action as quickly as they can. For me, a concussion I suffered this year not only took me away from the sport I’ve loved my whole life, but it has changed my life entirely.

At the beginning of 2015, I was cheering five days every week as a freshman on the varsity cheer team.  It was on January 8th when everything came to a rapid halt.

I was at cheer practice in third period and we were practicing the stunt called a “Pancake” where the flyer – in this case, me – tucks their head into their knees, then lands on their back folded in half. It was a stunt we had executed hundreds of times in the past, but this time, something went wrong.  Everything is quite fuzzy to me now. I know I hit my head but I do not recall if it was the ground or a body part. I do not know how it happened.  The top of my forehead is what I hit, like a hammer to the head.

It was not until fifth period that I was unable to ignore the pounding in my head. Everything had a fuzzy outline; I knew I was staring at a white page and black ink but was unable to distinguish actual words.  Every time I stood up, the world spun under my feet.

As soon as I got home, I expressed my worries to my mom but we decided to reassess the situation the next day.  

We went to urgent care the next morning. After countless tests, he deemed that I was concussed and told me to sleep over the weekend and that I should be healthy within a week.

A week went by and as I was lying in bed, I gradually felt the right side of my body go numb, resulting in a trip to the Emergency Room. After spending a night in the ER, with MRIs, drawing blood, and establishing my diagnosis, the doctors concluded I had “Post-Concussion Syndrome.” This meant my concussion would be for an extended amount of time, but what “extended” truly meant was a mystery.

Soon to come was months of vestibular (balance), massage, aromatouch, vision, occupational therapy and occipital nerve blocks. The side effects of Post-Concussion Syndrome were so severe, I couldn’t make it through a full school day; I ended up dropping out of Perry and completing school online to return this year.

Currently the neurologist expects me to have a two-year full recovery. I can no longer participate in the sport I love, and my college cheer plan has now diminished.  I have been attending school full time and though my cheer career has ended, I should be fully healed in the long run. I plan on educating more people on how serious concussions can be and one day I am sure I will be able to coach the sport I love.