Concussion Treatment for Tim

My name is Tim. My story technically begins freshmen year of college, but we could go back to when I was 5 years old and brought home a flyer for soccer. Since then, I have not stopped playing until recently. My freshmen year of college, I was extremely excited to have made Franciscan University’s men’s soccer team. It was a great experience and a great way to make friends. However, something happened midway through the season. During practice, I was pushed while off-balance and my head was the first thing to hit the ground. From this, I suffered my first concussion. The next few days were miserable due to the severe headaches. The only orders I was given by the doctors was to drink lots of water and to rest. After about a week, many of my symptoms had gone away, and after 3 weeks, I was symptom-free. After another week of conversations with the athletic trainers and a slow progression back into playing, I was cleared to practice with the team again. I was determined to work hard and make up for the lost time. About a week into being back, I took a ball to the side of my head and suffered my second concussion. This time, the headaches lasted much longer, and school became more difficult due to trouble concentrating and not being able to look at computer screens for long periods of time. Thankfully, I was symptom-free after about a month and a half.

          Fast-forward to junior year, after a change in major and many ups and downs of college. Half-way through the soccer season and the intensity of playing defense in a league game, my head hit an opponent’s hip. I instantly knew I had gotten another concussion, and this one seemed much worse than the last two. My headaches did not seem to diminish. My ability to concentrate and focus on schoolwork was greatly hindered. It has now been almost a year and a half since then, and I don’t know if I could ever consider myself symptom free. Headaches are still frequent, and I find it difficult to concentrate on more mentally demanding tasks. This is an obvious burden for my schoolwork, and I worry that it will affect my future career and family-life.

         Finding the proper treatment for these long-lasting symptoms has been challenging and even more difficult to find a treatment that insurance would help pay for. However, this last semester, I was introduced to a treatment called neurofeedback by two of my colleagues that have also suffered concussions in the past. They both said that the treatment has been life changing. My friend Maria said,

“Knowing the before and after me, I feel like I’ve walked out of a fog and into a beautiful world again. This “specific” neurofeedback has helped me think more clearly, study without re-reading, sleep without my mind racing the whole night, lower anxiety and depression that had developed from multiple head injuries over the years, and the list goes on. The bottom line, my symptoms were lowered drastically from this treatment, and I’m a happier, healthier person from it. In a way, I got my life back. Please be generous and help Tim in any way you can to get these neurofeedback treatments.”

Maria and my other friends have given me the confidence to reach out and ask for help so that I can receive the care that I need. Neurofeedback is a treatment that uses real time displays of brain activity to help reteach self-regulations of brain functions. This care can help many of my own symptoms, which now include headaches, some insomnia, anxiety, depression, and difficultly concentrating and focusing.

        Unfortunately, I simply do not have the funds for this type of treatment, and insurance is not willing to help with the costs. I already have plenty of student loan debt, and I cannot afford the cost of this care. Your gracious donations will allow me to travel back and forth to treatments and to