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2015 Movie Concussion

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According to IMB's website, the brief description of the movie Concussion is this:

In Pittsburgh, accomplished pathologist Dr. Bennet Omalu uncovers the truth about brain damage in football players who suffer repeated concussions in the course of normal play.

Image Source- IMDB

If you haven't seen the movie, you really should. It's not necessarily a sports' movie, it's a movie about health, medical discovery and what actually happens when a person is repeatedly exposed to continuous hits to his or her head or a quick, fast-action neck to head jolt; known and diagnosed as a concussion.

I never paid much heed to concussions and will admit to not knowing much about them, accept you should not sleep after possibly being subjected to one. I knew what the TV shows and medical dramas told patients admitted to the emergency room.

I didn't know there were different grades to concussions. These grades (ranging from 1-3 plus a fourth level known as a closed-head injury or a traumatic brain injury (TBI).

And to be honest, I wouldn't know about these grades or TBI's if I was hadn't been subjected to having a loved one experience a concussion.

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What Happened...

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Back in the fall of 2005, my oldest daughter was on the ride of her high school basketball life; with scouts from many colleges and universities from out of state courting her for a basketball career. We met with scouts from Central Florida University, Kansas State University and even Marquette University in our home state Michigan just to name a few.

When she was a freshman in high school, she was put on the varsity girl's basketball team; an honor bestowed to few. She stood 6'2" already in her ninth grade year of education and was the perfect center for the team.

Over the next three years she excelled...

• Was named number 68 of the Top 100 girl's basketball players in the state
• Received write-ups in all the local newspapers weekly
• Had a starting center position as a freshman- first year player
• Received awards for the Player of the Year and MVP three years in a row
• Broke two school records for points scored in games
• Still to this day holds the rebound record of her alma mater

So what happened?

A fluke... an odd clumsy moment.

A moment of my life I will never forget.

One second my 16 year old daughter was running down a high school basketball court and the next... she was on the hardwood floor in a fetal position; holding her head and crying. In the snap of a finger life as we knew it... changed. Over the next 24 hours the blur of life and death was present in ours lives.

Chain Of Events

• Daughter's feet entwine with an opposing player's feet and they both tumbled to the ground. The back of my daughter's head bouncing off the hardwood basketball court's floor.
• She's taken out of the game for part of the period, but soon returns to the game.
• Game over in the locker room she feels sick to her stomach.
• Leaves school and is going to drive her cousin home. I am already at home after watching the end of the game.
• On their way out to the parking lot, my daughter collapses to the cement and starts convulsing.
• Ambulance, rescue and police called to the school
• I am called at home by daughter's friend to come back to the high school
• I arrive at school- daughter unconscious and having seizures
• Fire & Rescue intubate my daughter who's still unconscious
• Flight Care Helicopter called in to take my daughter to trauma center (one hour away)
• Flight Care arrives and immediately puts her into a drug-induced coma
• Seizures finally slow down after coma induced
• She arrives via helicopter ahead of me and is admitted to the ER as "Jane Doe"
• Admitted into the Neuro-Intensive-Care Unit (NICU)

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NICU

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Four days spent in this room in a drug-induced coma to help prevent brain swelling and possible bleeding. Tests, tests and more tests are given to her. From three EEGs to a tilt table test (after she was taken out of coma) and so many more in between.

The entire time she was at the school, in the ER and being processed I was stoic. On the outside I was calm; but on the inside I was crumbling. It wasn't until she was in her room hooked up to so many medical monitors beeping, still intubated and unconscious that I went into a bathroom and broke down. I couldn't stop crying, well, actually sobbing. To see this athletic young woman, my daughter, in this condition was devastating.

I spent four days and nights in her NICU room. I lived at the hospital. Well-wishes from friends, classmates and the townspeople (we lived in a small rural farming community of about 600 residents) called me, showed up at the hospital and sent prayers to us. Almost her entire graduating class (total of about 75 kids) were living in the waiting room on the NICU floor.

After she was cleared of having no brain swelling or bleeding, she was removed from her coma. Her trauma team, consisting of five neurologist, neuro-surgeons and other brain trauma specialists, had daily meetings with me discussing her progress, her future and her health.

She was released from the hospital one week after the incident.

Recovery: Life Long Medical Issues

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• She still suffers from memory loss, including short term memory issues and even had to hire a tutor to help her with schoolwork and with her college exams years later.
• She still takes medications for seizures and migraines.
• The trauma team had informed me she would experience migraines and memory loss for the rest of her life (keep in mind she was 16 when this happened so that's a long time)
• She was restricted from driving a car, as in this state once you have a seizure you cannot drive an automobile. She had to be six-months seizure free before her license could be instated
• She may experience seizures still

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College graduation day

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Information about concussions with the Mayfield Brain & Spine
Information about concussions and TBI- Clincal Psychology Associates
Information on Traumatic Brain Injuries

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