The journey my injury took me on helped me to find myself. It was an extremely tough time in my life. Wearing my back brace to school everyday brought unwanted attention, and many questions from my classmates. After long hours of physical therapy and recovering made me agree that with the statement, everything happens for a reason, I got injured to show my team that one can overcome any obstacle. I now can find the positivity, and who will support me through any setback in my…
The game of soccer has always come natural to me. Competing in the game of soccer is what I love to do. Being physical is something I’ve never been scared of. If I’m being completely honest, going in hard on tackles is what I’m known for. Being a physical player is a strength of mine. Being physical in the game of soccer always comes with the risk of getting hurt. Two years ago I took that risk of getting hurt, and getting hurt is exactly what happened.…
In the course of my life, I have had quite a few scars. One physical scar was when I tripped, and landed on a rock, and cut my forehead. But the most memorable, was when I was eight years old, I was hurt when I accidentally landed on a table after being hit by a pillow. As a result, I had a wide open cut on the top of my head near my forehead from the landing. I was scarred for life. This was my second scar after I had the former at an earlier age.…
Imaging its a beautiful day in December you wake up to the calming cold crisp feelings of the air the snow is like tiny angels falling from the heavens. You walk down stairs to the welcoming aroma of breakfast filling your lungs as you walk into the dining room your mouth water like the Niagara Falls. You look around only to soon realize that you are home alone with a note on the refrigerator from your parents "we're off to the store we'll be back in less than an hour there is breakfast on the table" after she eat she goes back upstairs to wash up she gets dressed and walks down stairs to encounter her parents are home she notices that they are both unhappy and asks what is wrong she her mouth looks at her and tells her to sit down next to…
The beginnings of my frustrations lay with maintaining my academic record while concussed. I have always been an excellent student; learning was easy and enjoyable. When I studied, it stayed with me and percolated in my brain inspiring fresh ideas. Attending school with a concussion was completely different. I needed to develop new skills and profound patience with my slower pace. After finding myself on the pool deck unable to understand words, the rest of that spring semester would take laborious intense effort to complete my classes. It was as if learning leaked from my mind through my ears.…
Walking around school and doors slamming into my face because no one would open them. Going out to eat and everyone staring at the “cripple.” Being in a full leg brace with crutches was a challenge. The only good that came from it physically was my arms got a little bit stronger. Under my arms I developed awful rashes that burned me tremendously. Mentally, I became a better person in every way possible. I was a very reckless individual and I stopped at nothing. I'd jump off buildings into snowbanks and not think about the consequences if I got hurt. My first time getting hurt changed my views on everything. Before I do anything, I think about my knee. It taught me to appreciate my body and not to beat on it constantly. I also feel grateful that I do have a very healthy body. Although my knee does hurt all the time, I can still walk. Now when I see someone disabled in anyway, I do not stare. Instead I feel a sense of sympathy for them. I understand the everyday struggles they must go through that other people might not consider. Before my injury, I never realized the simple things in everyday life are the biggest challenges to…
How could people be so bad! Argh! Why do I get all the problems? Why me? Those guys made fun of me for no reason. I was trying hard enough. I was feeling so bad about it that wasted my evening thinking all over things that happened by the pool. Well actually I have been attending the Recreation Centre these days. I go there every evening for swimming. Not that I can’t swim but I can’t do some of the swimming styles. And learning these styles had become so frustrating that I would feel mentally exhausted. Oh! The reason of my frustration. Well……
It’s extraordinary to think about how we take so much for granted - another belief we take for granted is that every night the stars will shine. When you wake up in the morning and make plans for the day, you never really contemplate those plans changing entirely in the blink of an eye. I had never thought much about it, personally, until I was faced with Death himself. I don't think anyone really contemplates tragedy until it knocks on their front door. In fact, it doesn’t even knock – it forces itself in and threatens to leave you with nothing but heartache and suffering for the remainder of your miserable life. Traumatic events can occur in numerous ways, at any time in one’s life. Some are lucky enough to get away with them. Unfortunately, I was not one of the lucky.…
Have you ever felt as though the whole world was spinning out of control and that you might go flying if you tried to stand, or have you ever felt the feeling of your brain rattling against your skull as a headache pounded its way into your forehead. That is the feeling of a concussion, and if lucky you are enough to have never experienced one just think of a jackhammer against cement. It is a constantly pounding, pulsating, and pulverizing sensation that demands all of your attention. Concussions are selfish. They do not care about the project you have to finish or the phone call you have to make to your grandma because they dictate all of your actions, they have complete control of you regardless of what you have planned.…
While medical care was available growing up, there were financial or situational periods where it was not necessarily accessible. I am from a single parent family. My mother moved in with my grandparents after her divorce and works two full time jobs to help provide for my brother, grandparents, and I. Since my father went to jail and my grandfather passed, we have had to make many adjustments financially. This was the case due to my father not providing payments for child support for the time he was incarcerated nor occasional months prior. There has also been a complication with my mother and I having our identity stolen, which has created additional problems when applying for governmental aid throughout my undergraduate years. I worked…
One of the worst injuries that has ever occurred to me was having my fingers burned by extremely hot water. It was a cold, dark day at 7:31pm, and it was just me, my older brother, Gideon, and my younger brother, Theodore. I was 9 years old, Theodore was 2 years old, and Gideon was 12 years old. Every day I would drink some hot tea, because I tended to be extremely sensitive to the cold. And when I say sensitive, I am talking about that if I was drinking regular temperature water, I would be shivering probably throughout the rest of the night. Gideon was doing homework at the basement, while Theodore was sleeping in my parents’ bedroom. I was making myself some hot tea, when I accidentally poured hot water on my hand for 2 seconds. Now 2 seconds seem like nothing, but when something like…
Right after the start of my junior year, I found out that a former teammate of mine had been in a car accident and suffered a traumatic brain injury.…
I awaken this morning in a cold sweat, and heart pounding. Lately, I have gone through so many nightmares, but that's not surprising. Although my combat campaign ended the year 1991, I still get combat nightmares and flashbacks often, up four to five times a week, especially when I am stressed. At some point, early this morning, I found myself unable to physically move, as if I was paralyzed. In my dream, I believed someone or something, was trying to drag me out of my bed. Regardless, today, I must stay active and not drowned in my sorrows. I often try to recognize and release negative thoughts about my trauma issues and embrace new thoughts in my mind. However, this process is so hard to achieve consistency and maintained. Especially, since…
I rehabbed all year, working with a AT in Vancouver by the name of Clayton Cross, working with him even then furthered my desire to become an athletic therapist. I saw him working with top class athletes from football to NHL players, this ignited the fire inside of me feeling as though I had finally found my passion, something that I knew I would be as dedicated and committed to as I was to my sports. I had just started coming into my finals week of the spring semester when I had received a call about my father, he had gone into kidney failure and we didn’t know if he was going to make it. I was rushed home with an exam in little under a week. Not only adding stress to my injury that was yet to be healed, my own father was maybe not going to make it.…
A concussion can ruin your life for forever and a day. “According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1.7 million people sustain a traumatic brain injury each year in the United States”(Morosini). A sum of 1.7 million people is far too many and we need a solution. A great deal of people need help performing daily activities because of TBI (traumatic brain injury). “At least 5.3 million Americans have a long-term or lifelong need for help to perform activities of daily living as a result of a traumatic brain injury”(Morosini). Obtaining a traumatic brain injury is quite certainly, not enjoyable.…