Touchdowns and TBI's

Annually an estimated 136,000 to 300,000 high school athletes sustain concussions also know as TBI or traumatic brain injury. My first born son, as of approximately 5:30 last night, has become pat of this statistic. This is his third year playing football. One year of Pop Warner and one year as a Freshman behind him. This year, as a Sophomore on the Junior Varsity team he was given the honor of being asked to "double dress' which means he suits up for Varsity games as well. You can't imagine how proud I was standing next to him on the sidelines after his first game on a Friday night. We posed for pictures, he put his helmet on his little brother's head and I bragged about him on Facebook. I am an extremely proud sports mom. Now I am a scared sports mom. I knew this type of injury was possible, I was aware of the risk but there is a big difference between being aware it can happen and then watching it take place. That's what happened yesterday. My son went out for a pass, straight down the middle of the field and caught it, but not before a player from the opposing team hit him head on, helmet to helmet. As his head was jerking back from that another player hit him square in the chest taking him off his feet and he crashed to the ground. It was the last play of the game and no penalty was called. After a few seconds, he got up and walked to the sideline bench where he sat, waiting to clap hands with the opposing team as they left the field. I picked up my gear and headed for the car. Before I could put the key in the ignition I was called by his coach to come back. My son was laying in the grass under the goal post, he didn't know what day it was and his speech was slurred. He couldn't sit up on his own. His grandpa road the golf cart with him to the locker room while I brought the car around. Then he, his sister and I headed to the ER. CT scans, chest xrays and 1 IV later his results came back clear, He finally started speaking normally about 3 hours after he was hit. Diagnosis - mild concussion. I woke him up every two hours and watched him like a hawk all night per docotr's orders but not much else was said. I took him to see his pediatrician this morning and she disagreed with the severity and has placed him out for the rest of the month at least. She would prefer he stopped playing football altogether which of course he doesn't want to do. My son LOVES football. He loves football the way I love baseball and he has worked very hard to earn his spot. Countless hours of conditioning and practices, he gave up soda and most of his free time. He loves this sport, he's watching ESPN Sportscenter as I'm typing this and the next few weeks will be hell on him. Now I have to balance this one football season against the rest of his life. Do I let him go back on the field after the doctor clears him risking another injury? Do I make him hate me and run the risk of him taking a bad path without football? His dad was injured as a freshman and wasn't able to play. He chalked up his rotten high school career to not being able to play football. Who knows? What I do know is that this injury came at a time when the media, medical community and football itself are looking at TBI's way different than they have in the past. My heart is broken for my sweet, handsome, football loving boy. It would be broken more if he were to re-injure himself or sustain lifelong damage because of high school football. For today, we will follow doctors orders, pray and hope he gets to rejoin his team. Most importantly, I pray he doesn't ever re-injure his brain.