High School Tough Boys

An article from Cumberland County, PA introduces another Tough Boy:

Read about Kyle Chester Here

Read about Corey Bischof Here

football dude taken from graphicsfactory.com
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The Story of Kyle Chester
I stumbled on another article highlighting concussions today. In Pennsylvania, Kyle Chester was one of those tough boy kids who just wanted to play football. The article describes exactly what I mean by "Tough Boy," quoting Kyle:

“Most kids say, ‘I’m fine,’ and want to play to impress dad, coaches or a girlfriend,” he said, calling it an adrenaline rush. “That’s all I wanted to do was play.”

As unfortunate as Kyle's situation has become I congratulate him for standing up in the face of concussions! Thanks for getting your story out there!!


The Loss of Corey Bischof
An additional story from Cumberland County, PA creating awareness of how personality changes, thought to have occurred from concussions, can be devastating to families. Depression resulting in a teen suicide.


ImPACT testing
Article mentions the testing that has been adopted at the Cumberland Valley High (and I've read of other states that have adopted this same testing for high school sports).

As part of this initiative, each athlete in grades seven through 12 undergoes a neuropsychological assessment through the program. The test provides an objective measurement of attention span, working memory, sustained attention, reaction time, response variability, visual and verbal memory, selective and non-verbal program solving to establish a baseline assessment.

Baseline retests are given in ninth and 11th grades.

If a sports-related concussion should occur during the season, the athlete is retested with ImPACT. Those results are compared to the baseline, which assists the medical staff in making return-to-play decisions.

It's saddening to learn of a loss at such a young age. Grateful, however, that Corey's story is being shared during such a vulnerable time to learn about concussions. I send my blessings to his family.

My Two Cents today
If I find any other examples, I'll post them along! I think I read somewhere that NJ Brain Injury Association agreed to pay for half of the tests in their high schools - but I forget where I saw it... But how valuable could this be? Imagine how different our communities might be if we invested in better brain protection early on like this?

However, brain injuries have been happening for years to all sorts of people. And the great thing, is that you can recover. It just takes some time. And it's frustrating. It's painful. It is very hard to leave the "old you" and recognize the new directions that you need to move in. It is very hard to assume a new path, accept the losses, and become one of the many people in this world who has shaped their life much differently than where they originally thought they could go.

But you do keep going, somehow. It is possible. Recovery is difficult but possible.