Personal Narrative: How Concussion Changed My Life

Tragedy struck again and again that month. Grieving and sad I arrived at camp Sealth ill, fighting off night fevers, waking up covered in sweat, and wearing 3 or four layers of clothing at a time. If it wasn 't for Rocket I do not know how my first week would have gone. I had a positive, extremely capable mentor, who took me, not at my A game, and shaped me into a better intern that week. There was still a lot to learn, but I left that week feeling fulfilled, and healthy.

A significant challenge that I faced in my life occurred when I suffered a traumatic brain injury in 8th grade. Due to the injury I faced, I was unable to attend school for about a month, and I had to undergo multiple therapies over the span of two years. During this difficult time in my life, I learned that sometimes people judge a person unfairly. While I went to therapy, I looked normal. I did not have any physical obscurities, and this gave people the assumption that I was “normal” and that I could pursue the same activities as them with the same vigor.

Fast forward to my senior year, I was very agitated. All of my friends had gone on Kairos, and I was left out of the brotherhood that included metallic crosses and unexpected changes in attitude. Despite getting denied on two previous Kairos trips, I was finally able to attend the January trip. My hopes were high, but I made sure that I did not set the bar too high, for I did not wish to feel let down if it did not equate to this "life-changing" experience. Going into the SAC after 6th period on Tuesday, I had not talked to a single person there beyond the typical "hey how are you" in the hallway.

However after practice that night my family and I began to get worried as my symtoms of a concussion were getting more severe. The next morning my doctor had confirmed that I did infact have a concussion. As a result I would be out of cheer and tumbling for four weeks, but I would be back tumbling just in time for

As a 9th grader I made a few bad choices at Lemoore High School because I was immature. After 9th grade I learned and haven 't got in trouble that much at all. As a senior now I realize how much I matured since freshman year. The most important thing from my mistakes is that I learned not to do it again. As I get older I feel like I will continue to mature and fit into the real

Unfortunately I only got through day one of the program because I injured my toe which has sidelined me. The day I did of the program was very long and took approximately 3 hours and 15 minutes. I will likely make adjustments to the training program to make it shorter. The 21 day program felt very productive. I did a lot of challenging drills which were pushing my skills to the limit.

After months of medical tests, I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia the summer right before my first semester of school. I was fit and in the best health I had ever been in a long time but was hit with bouts of enormous pain and fatigue. Fibromyalgia is a musculoskeletal syndrome with symptoms of chronic muscle and nerve pain, enormous amounts of fatigue, sleep and digestive problems, as well as “brain fog.” At the time the diagnoses did not make sense to me and I could not fathom the Doctor 's words of this staying with me for life. I felt like every power in the universe was against me going to school since it seemed that something happened every time I attempted to finish where I Ieft off. I had to fight these feelings of victimization and

This was just the beginning. This event has affected me in so many ways, it has basically made me the strong person that I am today. My first surgery was a couple weeks after I was born, but the surgery when I was seven was the real focus. This event has caused so many problems for me in my life. As in, my left calf, I have fewer muscles in it than my right calf, and of which, that causes it to have less power and to be smaller in size.

April came and it was time to face the fear of my first surgery. “When everything feel like an uphill struggle, just think of the view from the top.” A quote that my parents told me right before I went under anesthesia. The first weeks were tough and were only the beginning of my uphill struggle. Not being able to compete in the sport that I love, having to watch and not compete made me feel as if there was a open pit in my stomach that would never be filled. With having a six month recovery from a hip surgery wasn 't something that I thought that I would have had to encounter being only 15.

That is not to say I do not hate being in pain, but it has also helped me to become stronger. Last year during my cross country season, I had a stress fracture in my left leg throughout most of the season. Unfortunately, I did not become aware of this fact until the end of the season, at which my doctor had me put in a cast. The constant pressure on the stress fracture caused it to break further, almost resulting in a completely broken leg. The doctor told me that I would have the cast for a minimum of six weeks.

Soon came therapy;The most boring and uncomfortable thing someone could experience. It lasted for 7 months, and I was constantly working out and pushing through endless pain to begin walking, or even running again. Everyday there was an exercise to do. Some days I was all alone, trying to motivate myself to get better. Telling my parents, “I want to be done with this, I’m so tired of not being able to do what everybody else does.” I had this conversation several times with my family..

Fortunately, my case wasn’t too severe. A few months after the diagnosis, the disease was manageable and I was able to live my riveting 14-year-old life. Two years later, I had relapsed for the fourth time and stuck in a brightly-colored hospital room once again. The three weeks I spent there proved to be even more difficult than the initial struggle. Through my anxiety-ridden thoughts and the never-ending tubes and needles, I felt powerless and was unable to imagine myself seamlessly entering my junior year of high school.

There comes a time where you say enough is enough, not a single person can juggle a job, school, and an alcoholic mother all at a time. Although, it used to be easier, honestly it did, before my father died. Well, of course I was quite young at the time and my mother wasn’t an alcoholic with a psychosis diagnosis; however he still knew exactly how to work out my problems. I’m an adult now, nineteen years old, I finished my last day of high school Wednesday, and things are about to change. At the moment, I am running late for work, I hear my mother in the other room, still drunk at eight in the morning.

Difficulties from spondylolysis plagued me for years in my teens. When the discomfort first began, I presumptuously told myself I remained tough enough to continue to play baseball through the pain; however, the soreness worsened, I needed to wear a back brace, and required several months of rest to heal. The downtime proved almost as painful as the injury itself. I felt well after this recovery period, except just as physical therapy ended, the achiness returned; a CT scan revealed not one, but two unhealed fractures that needed to be surgically repaired. During the weeks after surgery, I relied on a walker, and my pessimistic attitude caused many mental obstacles, one of which questioned my capability to be the athlete I was prior to my injury.

A year ago I was rolled into the operating room not knowing what the next year would hold. I didn 't know if the procedure would work or if I would feel any different. A year after my heart surgery I can say I am migraine free and getting to live my life again! I lived my whole life with a small hole that I didn 't even know was effecting me the way it was and now I don 't have to worry. Couldn 't be more thankful for the great doctors and nurses at St. Francis who have given me things I didn 't know I was