When I wrote Nathan’s Journal, I wanted to get to know him and share his experience as a victim of traumatic-brain injury. My focus was on the TBI and Nathan’s story as he struggled to overcome the challenges of TBI.
I chose football as the vehicle for the injury he suffers because I played football myself and as an employment specialist worked with athletes facing the same challenges.
This football season, however, has made very real the likelihood of more young athletes facing the same fate. Recently a player in Massachusetts collapsed on the sidelines after a hard tackle and succumbed to the injury. And this hardly is the only story of a TBI-injury suffered playing football – in West Virginia ad Alabama, to name two.
I have two grandsons who are into sports. One plays hockey, the other wrestles. Either of them would make a good footballer. I’m glad they don’t play football.