Brain Injury Support Group
Traumatic brain injury occurs when a sudden trauma causes brain damage. TBI can result from a closed head injury or a penetrating head injury. Symptoms of a TBI can be mild, moderate, or severe, depending on the extent of the damage to the brain. Outcome can be anything from complete recovery to permanent disability or death. A coma can also affect a child's brain.
I read an interesting article in Men's Journal yesterday. (You don't need to read the article to see where I'm going with this. I'm going to pull some quotes in here.)
The article is called "Confessions of an NFL Hit man" and it's about the Steelers linebacker James Harrison.
The article explains why players are getting hit higher (i.e. in the head) more than they used to. Guys would rather be hit in the head than in the knee, because they don't want to be taken out of the game:
"I get dinged about three times a year and don't know where I am for a little minute. But unless I'm asleep, you're not getting me out of the game, and most guys feel the same way. If a guy has a choice of hitting me high or low, hit me in the head and I'll pay your fine. Just don't hit me in the knee, cause THAT'S life-threatening. How'm I going to feed my family if I can't run?"
The article continues on to say:
Stack up the far-off prospect of brain damage against a voided $30 million, and most players will roll the dice on the former.
And, finally, this last quote from James Harrison:
"When you hit a dude hard, you feel it, too, and the Steller go at play-to-die speeds. But if, God forbid, I wind up having brain damage, so be it. That's something I'll have to deal with down the road."
So, I share this with you all, because, I notice that my TBI colors my world. Previously, this article wouldn't have even registered with me. (And I might not have even read it.) Prior to my TBI, I didn't even really know what a brain injury was.
But now that I have lived it, and continue to live it, I see things like this. And I wonder if these football players have any idea of what they're risking. Perhaps it is different than my situation, since they have a choice (to play) and they choose that, with the perks of a tremendously high salary and the fame that goes with it, knowing the risks.
Thoughts?
The article is called "Confessions of an NFL Hit man" and it's about the Steelers linebacker James Harrison.
The article explains why players are getting hit higher (i.e. in the head) more than they used to. Guys would rather be hit in the head than in the knee, because they don't want to be taken out of the game:
"I get dinged about three times a year and don't know where I am for a little minute. But unless I'm asleep, you're not getting me out of the game, and most guys feel the same way. If a guy has a choice of hitting me high or low, hit me in the head and I'll pay your fine. Just don't hit me in the knee, cause THAT'S life-threatening. How'm I going to feed my family if I can't run?"
The article continues on to say:
Stack up the far-off prospect of brain damage against a voided $30 million, and most players will roll the dice on the former.
And, finally, this last quote from James Harrison:
"When you hit a dude hard, you feel it, too, and the Steller go at play-to-die speeds. But if, God forbid, I wind up having brain damage, so be it. That's something I'll have to deal with down the road."
So, I share this with you all, because, I notice that my TBI colors my world. Previously, this article wouldn't have even registered with me. (And I might not have even read it.) Prior to my TBI, I didn't even really know what a brain injury was.
But now that I have lived it, and continue to live it, I see things like this. And I wonder if these football players have any idea of what they're risking. Perhaps it is different than my situation, since they have a choice (to play) and they choose that, with the perks of a tremendously high salary and the fame that goes with it, knowing the risks.
Thoughts?
Just the words TBI, or head injury brings out such deep emotion in me.
Maybe training should include some hospital visits etc.
I didn't even understand, in the beginning stages what was in store for myself.
I didnt know anything about brain injury before it happened to me, even after the doctors came in and told me about my injury I didnt understand what they were talking about. Not until I actually started living with the effects, now I know how life changing it really is. I wish others would understand, so they would make better choices and be more careful.
The only thing that might resonate with them, spend 6 months day and night living in a brain injury clinic/rehab along side a patient. Your right, it is sad.. very sad.
I think these football players already have brain injury and don't realize it. They're not capable of making good choices because of their impairment.
I also wonder how many other teachers (like me) suffered brain injury as the result of a collision with a student who was running, or a fight between students that we were trying to break up, or from an assault from a student that administrators require us to keep quiet about or lose our jobs-- are still on the job, with impaired function and impaired ability to deal with problems, not know they have brain injury.
A person is more like to suffer a 2nd or more TBI's after having 1 - from a combination of decision making plus also the physical aspects of being dizzy & likely to fall.
I know when I was young, I had similar thinking to these young football players. It's difficult to really think about the future when you are young.
But I do beleive that industry is changing. The awareness is coming. But I think the main point he is missing . . . he talks about supporting his family, and you talk about your TBI coloring your world . . . a TBI would change the lives of lives and the working structure of his entire family, forever. A knee injury they would survive with normalcy . . . a TBI they will never be the same. Its not jsut his knee or his brain he is gambling. He has more resposibility than that. Shame on his ignorance.