On July 31st, 2013 I almost died; in fact, many witnesses thought I did. I was not shot, was not in a wreck, but I merely whiplashed my head on a turf football field after jumping up to catch a football. As soon as my head hit the ground, I was instantly knocked unconscious. My body was convulsing uncontrollably. I was choking on my tongue and my mouth was foaming with blood. My trainer instinctively stretched me out to stop the convulsing, but that only made me go completely limp and stop breathing. I laid on the field for three minutes before finally taking a breath, but didn’t regain consciousness until the next morning at 7:31. The doctors still can’t explain how I survived the impact considering the extreme symptoms that ensued, but all doctors agree that I almost died from a concussion.
“In 2012 alone, there were more than 3.8 million …show more content…
After completing the minimum recovery process for a concussion, I was released to play. However, every time I was tackled during the season, I got an excruciating burning sensation that went down my arm from my neck to my fingers. This happened hundreds of times during the season and the pain would often last for days, but my trainer continually said I just had a pinched nerve in my neck, so I just got treatment for it and toughed it out. After the season, I visited an expert on concussions and found out that the brain is extremely complex. In reality, I had a large amount of residual brain damage, even after I did what I thought to be enough recovery before returning to play. Neurological damage can often cause pain throughout extremities in the body. In my case, I had what are called “Stingers” which are very common after concussions but are almost always misdiagnosed for different injuries like pinched nerves or bruised muscles. Many trainers and coaches also have a deadly misconception that a player has to be knocked unconscious to have a
“In 2012 alone, there were more than 3.8 million …show more content…
After completing the minimum recovery process for a concussion, I was released to play. However, every time I was tackled during the season, I got an excruciating burning sensation that went down my arm from my neck to my fingers. This happened hundreds of times during the season and the pain would often last for days, but my trainer continually said I just had a pinched nerve in my neck, so I just got treatment for it and toughed it out. After the season, I visited an expert on concussions and found out that the brain is extremely complex. In reality, I had a large amount of residual brain damage, even after I did what I thought to be enough recovery before returning to play. Neurological damage can often cause pain throughout extremities in the body. In my case, I had what are called “Stingers” which are very common after concussions but are almost always misdiagnosed for different injuries like pinched nerves or bruised muscles. Many trainers and coaches also have a deadly misconception that a player has to be knocked unconscious to have a