Life Changing

How have concussions affected your life?: Although I played hockey almost my whole life, I never truly understood what concussions were until my university career. In my 3rd and 4th year I sustained 2 concussions a year apart from one another. Both in which I did not take as seriously as I should’ve, rushing my recovery so I could play hockey again. It wasn’t until my 2nd concussion in my 4th year within the same month as my last, that changed everything for me. From then on, I was no longer able to play the sport that was my entire life. Due to this, I became depressed as I felt as though I had lost my identity. Additionally, I began to suffer from chronic headaches, concentration issues, and sleeping problems that I still experience.

Why do you want to advocate for concussion awareness?: For my honours thesis I studied the mental health of the varsity athletes at StFX with a special focus on concussions. My results were quite alarming as I found that a majority (76%) of the athletes had sustained at least one concussion in their lifetime. Furthermore, I found that concussions were positively correlated with depression and alcohol use. A combination of my own personal experiences, as well as scientific evidence surrounding the negative effects of concussions, has driven me to shed light on this very real, and very serious injury. I hope that through this I can educate individuals and deter them from making the same mistakes I did!