I got a concussion when I was in third grade. We were playing Capture the Flag in gym class and I was in jail waiting for a teammate to tag me and set me free. Now at this point I need to mention that I was the shortest kid in my glass. I was tiny. And the biggest kid in my class was on my team, and he took up the challenge of freeing me. He ran full speed into me, basically clotheslining me and sending me flying backwards. I landed on my back and slammed my head on the blacktop. I laid there dazed for a minute or two before I slowly got up and stumbled over to the teacher. She sent me to the school nurse and I stayed there for about half an hour before I went back to class. After gym class was Sustained Silent Reading, and that’s when I knew something was wrong. I was reading my book and my vision was blurry and out of focus. The words were moving and shifting around and I started to get a headache. I was eight years old. I never had a headache before. I didn’t know what they felt like. I didn’t know what was happening. Needless to say that it freaked me out. I knew that I was hurt, but I didn’t know why. I just chalked it up to banging my head and didn’t mention it to anyone. I survived the school day and my head started to feel normal after a day or two. About a week after the incident, my mom nonchalantly mentioned that I experienced a minor concussion, but nobody told me about it because they didn’t want me to worry about it. I was actually proud that I got a concussion. I thought it only happened to football players and I felt like I accomplished something. After all, not everybody gets to experience a brain injury. Lucky me.
Critically Rated at 12/17
Written, Rated, and Reviewed by Brendan H. Young
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