Sports Legacy Institute Blog

Why Ask James Questions?

There isn’t anything I haven’t heard about concussions. I’ve heard the famous, “it’s JUST a concussion”, “suck it up”, “your eggs are scrambled”, or “you’ve had your bell rung”. Your bell rung? What does that mean? Ringing a bell sounds like a good thing, is it the image of your brain hitting the sides of your skull? What about eggs scrambled to describe your brain after a concussion?

I’ve found people don’t understand concussions unless they’ve lived through them. When you have one, your immediate instinct is to slip quietly into routines so attention is not brought to you. People don’t believe you when you say you ‘feel funny’, things are ‘fuzzy’ or your memory is ‘off’. You don’t look any different, you don’t have a broken leg with a cast and your head isn’t wrapped in bandages, so how can there be anything wrong? You are expected to shake it off, and just get back in the game. I was in the dark myself about concussions until May 12, 2007.

I was a 16 year old seasoned lacrosse player, having played since 4th grade, and had been on varsity since freshmen year, I never thought my favorite sport would change my life. On May 12, 2007 during one of our last games for the season, a cold aluminum lacrosse shaft was violently thrust into my throat and my body thrown into the air with so much force that my head smashed into the ground. I lay dizzy, and confused, with the sky spinning and an instant headache. This was my first concussion.

Play still in progress, the ball now resting at my feet and screams drowning out logic, I heard,
“Get the ball…..SCORE!”

I stumbled to my feet, and somehow managed to get an assisting goal. I turned to high five a teammate and was hit in the side of the head by a fist and butt end of the stick. This was my second concussion within minutes of the first, but this time I had no feeling in my face, arms, legs, and tongue. I frantically began to feel for my tongue for I was sure it was gone. I was rushed to the ER 25 minutes later and told I could play lacrosse on Monday. If I hadn’t taken myself out of the game after that second hit I could have died.

I found myself on Monday unable to read, write, or do simple math. My speech was slurred, headaches and stuttering made it difficult to carry on regular school work. By the end of the week I found myself sitting in Dr. Cantu’s office checking off almost all of the twenty symptoms and now able to put words to what I was feeling. It really hit me and I was told I suffered Severe Post Concussion Syndrome.

After hearing how my peers and other athletes at school reacted to the word ‘concussion’ I decided to turn my negative into a positive. Something had to be done to give athletes the information and to educate since there seemed to be so much misinformation. I needed to bring concussion awareness to my school and pushed to have Chris Nowinski and Dr. Cantu give us their presentations. Next, Dr. Cantu gave me opportunities to tell my story with him at his high school concussion presentations hoping to capture the ‘kids’ attention as they listened to one of their peers. I’ve continued to offer my assistance with concussion awareness. My only purpose is to reach even one person so they will have the information to protect themselves. Turn a negative into a positive!