When I was 14, I was kicked in the head during a rugby match. I knew concussions were “bad,” but that was about it. I didn’t know I should have rested, not done fencing, not gone to school. For four days, I pushed through feeling a bit off. By the time I found out how serious my head injury was, I couldn’t concentrate on anything and my reactions were glacial.
My recovery took over a year, and it was very challenging. I felt isolated and scared I would have brain damage. I have fully recovered, but it took a long time. I have since learned the first 48 hours following a head injury are the most crucial to recovery. I have now made it my mission to spread concussion awareness and shorten concussion response time.
With this goal in mind, I decided to start a charity, Neuroshield, to help concussion patients return to normal life and prevent concussions from happening in the first place. I worked with my school, Eton, to completely change their concussion response protocol. We have now implemented a system of players looking out for each other, where all head-contacts require a doctor check-up.
I have also created a fun card game, Cagoga, to spread awareness about concussion symptoms and treatments. It uses traditional card game elements such as trying to defeat the opponent’s characters mixed in with concussion causes, symptoms, and recovery methods.
neuroshieldfoundation.org 