Hello.
According to the Journal of Neurosurgery, 69 million people a year, across the world, sustain a traumatic brain injury.
I am one of those individuals.
When I was in 6th grade, after a mild bullying accident, I was slammed into a steel cabinet at school. A few classmates said they thought I was out cold for a few minutes based on the time it took for me to get up from the ground. I grasped every desk, every wall I could just to walk a few feet, as I struggled with immense dizziness and nausea. I tried to walk to my desk and when I finally sat down, my neck was in screaming pain. I had a physical education class immediately after this, and I felt too sick to participate, so I told the person at the front desk what had transpired.
She immediately did a concussion screening. I knew the day of the week, our president, and she told me that my eyes were not dilated. She confidently announced that I did not have a concussion, and I was sent back to class. Widespread first responder training is critical. Throughout the day, I struggled with double vision, imbalance, slurring my words, among other concussion-related symptoms. Since I was told that I did not have a concussion, I thought I was fine. Having been a committed soccer player at the time, I was trained with the mentality that for almost all injuries you get back in the field and be a team player, I normally shook off any injuries. However this time, I didn’t have that choice anymore.
A teacher that had previously survived a concussion recognized my symptoms and exhorted me to call my mom and go to the doctor. When I finally got to the doctor, my doctor said my symptoms were so bad that I probably should have gone straight to a hospital ER. One of my eyes wasn’t moving at all, which is why I was seeing double; I was suffering from convergence insufficiency.
The doctor ordered me to have a week of doing nothing in a dark room—a treatment course that is frequently debated.
This was supposed to be a week-long concussion. Five years later it continues to transform my life.
This week for rest turned into a month and the diagnosis became post-concussive syndrome; I was experiencing persistent post-concussive symptoms. A year later the diagnosis evolved to a mild traumatic brain injury. It wasn’t until two years after the accident that we learned that this incident also caused a spinal cord injury.
The symptoms were debilitating. I had about 20 severe stabbing headaches a day, significant immobilizing neck spasms every day, double vision, light sensitivity, dizziness, and more. My symptoms progressed into nerve pain, difficulty walking and weakness, tremors, episodes of amnesia, and then pressure in my head and my vision was starting to go blurry and black.
When researching treatments, doctors, and exploring the field of neuroscience as I sought help for my own injury, I noted the many remaining mysteries of the brain. I hope that with a greater awareness for brain injuries more data critical to the neuroscience field will be captured. It is my mission to help encourage awareness for brain injuries, and educate individuals on the importance of prevention.
I am the author and illustrator of the book, Brain Power: Neurology for Kids!, part of a series of children’s books in development that address difficult and complex medical topics. I have created a lesson plan and given several workshops for young audiences on the topic of neurology, stressing the importance of taking care of one’s brain––through safety awareness and early detection of symptoms. I also have experience volunteering at the Center for Innovation in Brain Sciences lab at the University of Arizona.