Personal Narrative: How Concussion Changed My Life

People only judge on what they see on the outside. If they can’t see your illness, to them it doesn’t exist. You sit in silence as you hear the whispers and you see the odd looks, but you smile and go with life anyway. I was thirteen when the biggest battle of my life began, pain. In August, 2012, I was going on with life as usual. Not knowing a hit on the head will change my life for the next few years. Looking back at the time when my concussion was at its worse, I don’t remember much. I was on a lot of different medication and seeing various doctors. My family didn’t know what to do because my concussion was extremely severe. Having headaches everyday became the new normal, eventually I just accepted it and went on with my life. A few months pass, I start to slowly get my life back. Freshman year started, life was okay considering the

One of the things I had to do at home was shock my nerves with warm and cold water. I had to have ice cold water in one bucket and warm water in the other bucket. I put my hands in one bucket for thirty seconds and thirty seconds in the other, this went on for five minutes. I had to do this with my hands and feet everyday. The call finally came, I had a week to prepare myself for Kansas City. Going into the RAPS program I had no idea what to expect. The next four weeks included crying, laughing, and hard work. I went through eight hours of physical and occupational therapy, Monday through Friday. It the most difficult thing I had ever done. The last week I was there, I experienced my first day of being pain free. I had no body pain and I didn’t have a headache. This was my first day in four years without a headache, and my first day in a year with no body pain. I didn’t even remember what it was like not to be in pain. It was the best feeling in the world, to know that my hard work payed