Hello, my name is Chris.
when I was 13, I had my first Major Concussion when I was knocked unconscious after being driven illegally into the boards head first during an ice hockey game. Over the years, between car accidents and sports injuries, my neurologist said I have had at Minimum 4 Major Concussions, 5 Grade I concussions, and at least 5 sub-concussions ("bell ringers" -- when I could not remember the practice or fame the next day). In 2013 I was diagnosed with Post Concussion Syndrome. Even though the 2013 concussion took almost 2 months to clear, I could not stop helping other people through teaching drivers ed and coaching sports.
In 2014, I was teaching a football coach's 45-yr-old wife to drive. She got scared, jumped the curb, hit the wrong pedal, and hit a highway advertising sign almost head on. I was in the hospital for two weeks and that diagnosed with Major concussion #4. My wife and I were told that I can NOT have another concussion. Then last September, I was in my last year of coaching (20 years of youth, middle school, and high school and 30 seasons since some sports overlapped). I was at middle school practice and had just told the boys to bring in the footballs. They tell me (I don't recall the rest of the evening) that one of the players threw a football in and I never saw it coming.
The football nailed me on the right side of the head, where I have had several concussions, so hard it knocked me down. I was apparently babbling so the team mom and an asst coach called my wife who brought me to the ER. I was admitted and given a multitude of tests. No fracture or interior bleeding but so much damage my neurologist put the CT and MRI scans on an x-ray machine in the room. He pointed to all the white area above my right ear and told my wife and I that even with all his years of experience, he cannot tell where the damage ends and the scar tissue from previous injuries begins. Also, during my hospitalization, I had at least 2 diagnosed seizures.
I have been out of school as a teacher since Sept 23, 2015, I had to walk with a cane my first five months, and I had to have a handicap ramp installed because I kept falling inside and outside my house. I have gone through three sessions of physical therapy so I could walk again and get my balance back (though I still require a walking stick for balance), 9 months of visits with a special pain medicine doctor, and I am still undergoing cognitive therapy which includes frequent hypnosis.
