PCS: post concussion struggles

8,765 hours, 365 days, one year. That’s how long Kaylee Gialamas has lived with a concussion.

Gialamas is a soccer player at Wittenberg University, and has struggled with concussion-related illnesses after braving an injury on the field. At an away game she fell, hitting her head against the hard cement-like ground and suffering immediately from the injury.

For weeks, she would struggle to be able to wake up. In class, she would sit, staring at a board with words moving. On tests, she would struggle to make out coherent sentences and would have to squint extremely hard to even see a single letter.

After failing multiple concussion tests, she became so familiar with them that soon she began passing them. Finally, she was admitted to the Cleveland clinic and began taking medicine for her injury. Yet, every day, she still struggled with the pain and the frustration. The hardest thing for her was not missing out on fun with friends, struggling to complete school work, or traveling to multiple hospitals around Ohio, but she found it the most challenging not being able to play soccer.

In August, Gialamas went to yet another hospital, only to find that her injuries and suffering were due to a neck injury that was overlooked when she was diagnosed with her concussion. Finally, with help from the Athletic Trainer, she has finally been ‘fixed.’

This Saturday, Gialamas will finally be hitting the field with her teammates. After an entire year watching her teammates play from the side-lines, she can officially say that she is cleared to play. Her reaction: she is overwhelmed with joy. Not only did the doctors tell her she would probably never play again, but she was also encouraged by her family and friends to quit. Now, Gialamas can prove that statistics are only numbers, as she takes on the field once again.