Siobhan Lacey-Chow seemed as if she had everything you could want in life. She had a close circle of friends and family, spent most of her free time traveling, and was peaking in her career as an Executive at a company she loved. When Siobhan was younger, she dabbled sometimes as a model and enjoyed the fashion industry. But she was yearning for more and decided to join the corporate world in the food sector. Siobhan was responsible for driving deals and was passionate about introducing people to delicious, healthy, and nutritious food.

Siobhan Lacey-Chow & Peter Tharos (Actor, Producer & Film Director)
Event: IMpower-The Act of Learning to Love Yourself, September 2022

That all changed in May 2014. Siobhan had just returned home after successfully closing one of her organization’s first National deals. She finished her two favorite gym classes back-to-back in Uptown Toronto and was stopped in traffic on a beautiful sunny morning. The next thing she knew, she was rear-ended by a driver speeding in a van. Her car veered off the highway and her memory went blank. She doesn’t remember much about the immediate time afterward.

Doctors told Siobhan she had to go into isolation because her brain was swollen. The following days, weeks, and months were a roller coaster of emotions. She was angry and frustrated at the situation. The circumstances felt so random.

“Why me?” Siobhan recalled asking. “At the time, my career was everything. And now it was all taken from me.”

There were many moments of downward spiraling, since she had lost most of her motor abilities and had to relearn many of the normal, everyday actions we all take for granted. Walking. Speaking. Even just thinking was a challenge. And it didn’t help that the only place she could recuperate was at home with her ex-husband.

For the next six months, Siobhan decided she had to set goals for herself. She needed tangible results to see if she was making progress. She would test her memory and time how long it took for her to read a certain passage. Once the times became shorter, she knew her motor skills were improving. It was, and still is, a delicate balancing act. She has always been a go-getter, but could no longer push herself past her limits like she had done so often in the past.

Siobhan Lacey-Chow & Peter Tharos
Event: IMpower-Lighting Your Brain on Fire, November 2022

The experience undoubtedly was humbling to Siobhan. So many simple, daily activities she once could do without hesitation were difficult. It provided a different lens into the lives of those with disabilities. She was also forced to become comfortable with the uncomfortable.

“I had to learn self-love and compassion towards myself, and that’s not always an easy thing,” said Siobhan. “There were days I wanted to stay in bed all day. But I had to find it in myself to redirect my energy any way I could.”

Once her perspective shifted, Siobhan knew she had to rebuild her life. She craved her independence and wanted to get back to work instead of surrendering to despair. What helped the most was coming to the realization she was not alone in her journey. There are others just like her who are going through this struggle, others who have it just as difficult, if not more so. And again, she set goals for herself. Sometime after the accident, Siobhan bought heels with the hope she’d be able to wear them once she was better. And through hard work and dedication, she put them on while walking the carpet at an award show event months later.

Event: Canadian Women in Food – FULL TILT, March 2023

Siobhan acknowledges her recovery is a roller coaster and some days are easier to manage than others. Fortunately, she has trained herself to get through difficult moments. She will pause to reflect and understand it’s completely acceptable to feel this way.

While researching online for resources, Siobhan came across the Concussion Legacy Foundation website. The personal stories resonated so much with her she pledged to donate her brain to the Research Registry.

“It was so personal to me, and brain donation is the only way for researchers to see what will work in the future to help others,” said Siobhan.

These days, Siobhan is dedicated to lending her voice to the voiceless. She has become an Inspirational Speaker and Advocate for Mental Health and has made it her life’s purpose to share her experiences with others, proving anything is possible against all odds. One of the initiatives she is passionate about in Canada is changing the wheelchair sign symbolizing disabilities. There are people with vulnerabilities not necessarily visible to the eye, and she hopes to empower all of them through this hopeful change.

Siobhan Lacey-Chow & Cheryl Appleton (Founder, Canadian Women in Food)
Event: Canadian Women in Food – FULL TILT, March 2023
Photo Credit: Valentina Giorcelli: Food Photography

To that effect, Siobhan recently created her own IMpower movement on behalf of anyone facing life’s adversities. Her message delves into the fine art of building self-awareness, embracing the consistent dance with self-acceptance, and actively choosing the IMpowering route of self-advocacy, all while sharing tools and strategies that served her, in navigating and continuing to navigate, the journey of bringing her innermost, authentic desires to fruition.

Siobhan Lacey-Chow & Jessica West (Founder of Tresor, Podcast Host & Author, The Empower from Within Podcast)
Podcast: The Empower from Within Podcast, January 2023

“You don’t necessarily need a catastrophic injury for my messaging to resonate,” says Siobhan. “The best part is, these tools are applicable to anyone. We have the power to choose and create the life we desire, to author the chapters of our lives, all while IMpowering ourselves to do so, should we choose, or not – the choice is ours!”

Through it all, Siobhan wants everyone to remember her life’s simple motto:

“When there’s a will, there’s truly always a way.”

To follow Siobhan’s IMpower initiatives, visit www.siobhanlaceychow.com.

To connect with Siobhan, she can be reached at slc@siobhanlaceychow.com.

I created this animation to support the Concussion Legacy Foundation’s Flag Football Under 14 program. My family was impacted by the loss of my uncle, Shane Dronett, a 10-year NFL veteran to CTE in 2009. This animation is to honor my uncle and help educate families of the risks of playing tackle football before age 14. I am thankful that Chris Nowinski and the entire Concussion Legacy Foundation has given me the opportunity to share my project.

Image from ESPN Press Room

CLF: What was it like to join the Army in 1979?

GW: It was a couple of years after the end of the Vietnam War. My NCOs were Vietnam veterans. They’d just started integrating females into basic training companies. Our drill sergeants were all males. They got thrown in the deep end of the pool, but they did a stellar job. Their leadership and training were pivotal to my success in the military. Then I went into intelligence. I remember of 150 people that were in my class in Airborne School, there were three females and there were no female black hats in my company. So again, there was a learning curve for everybody. Things have evolved over my 27-year career, from uniforms being separate, to now the same. Now women can serve in every MLS that they can qualify for, and I think that’s awesome. I’m delighted to see that anyone who wants to serve their country can if they hit all the marks.

And then we talk about brain injury. I saw stars a couple of times. We laughed it off and took Motrin to relieve the pain. This last injury, had I not been hurt in other ways, I wouldn’t have seen a doctor and I would have died on the battlefield. I had a swelling brain they caught in time. The medical care saved my life.

CLF: How did your TBI impact how you handled things as a leader?

GW: I needed to write things down. I sat in meetings taking copious notes because my recall was dissipated. I picked and chose what I wanted to remember. I felt like there was a limit of information that my brain could hold, recall, and process. I relied on other people. Also, I was not sleeping well. I attribute this to combat, stress, leadership, all those things – but I really think these things were caused by the multiple head injuries that I had.

CLF: I think that’s commonplace. We want to persevere, and we don’t want to realize we have an injury that’s going to stop us from doing what we want to do. That’s a bumper sticker for TBI and PTSD.

GW: That’s why I love what you do. I went through 90 percent of my career unaware. I don’t want other servicemembers to do that. There are things you can do to mitigate your symptoms and maintain quality of life. That’s what brought Team Unbroken to the surface and that’s why Project Enlist is important. We don’t want these injuries to define who you are or what you can accomplish.

CLF: How would you classify your TBI?

GW: Mine was considered severe. I blew up my eardrums as well as having severe brain swelling. It damaged important nerves in my brain. My biggest symptom is a little bit of cognitive delay. Something as simple as you look at something like a folder, you know what it is, but for like two seconds, you can’t recall what it’s called. 90 percent of the time I’m high functioning, but 10 percent of the time, [not as much].

CLF: You’ve done a great job of mitigating that.

GW: But it can be humbling. That’s another thing I want to touch on. I think people know they have a new injury before they want to admit it. There are signs and symptoms. Bad news is not like wine, it doesn’t get better with age. So, if you think you have a brain injury, you should get checked. It’s a simple process.

CLF: Good point. When you had your serious TBI, you were with a group of soldiers assaulting an objective. It was unique at the time but not going to be as unique moving forward. We’re going to find more women subjected to the dangers you experienced.

GW: It’s only getting bigger because like I said, now women are going to be leading infantry companies in units engaged with the enemy. The amount of brain injuries is going to increase because even in training, people get hurt all the time.

CLF: You can see why TBI is a signature wound of the last 20 years of warfare.

GW: Absolutely. I don’t know if I have any military friends who don’t have some sort of brain injury from being in service. You’re running around, jumping around, dropping out of airplanes, throwing yourself on the ground. You’re constantly putting yourself at risk for head injuries. It’s like playing football every day. Think about how much we wear a soft cap when we’re in a place where you should have a helmet on. A lot of head injuries happen that way.

CLF: I love the picture behind you because it’s skydiving. 

GW: I got to jump with the Golden Knights. In the beginning it was a struggle, getting severely wounded like that. Part of you wants to survive and the other part wants to thrive. You want to start thriving before you’re well enough, so you have a lot of failures. I will say this: the people around me really helped me overcome these injuries. Now I think I’m living the best life I possibly could. I don’t even think about my brain injury until I can’t think about what a folder is or something. I decided that I wasn’t going to let my injury define me. I want to help as many people in my position as I can. I want to advocate for those who can’t advocate for themselves. I’m doing the same thing I did before, I’m just switching uniforms.

CLF: It’s important to take care of yourself so you can help take care of your family and friends and be that person you’re meant to be.

GW: Educate yourself. Part of my healing was learning about my injury. I read things, went to classes, engaged with organizations, Wounded Warriors and all these other people out there that are setting up services. You can learn about your injury and listen to other people who had the same injury as you and how they navigated it. That’s why I think this veteran network we have is powerful.

CLF: You pledged to donate your brain to Project Enlist. Why?

GW: I want to be part of the solution. Even if donating my brain after I’m not using it anymore can help one person, it’s worth it to me. If a doctor can open this thing and look at it and think, ‘oh, this makes sense to me now.’ It could go back to the type of helmets we were wearing. If I donate my brain and they figure out how to help people who already have head injuries or are even born with head injuries, to me, that’s a win-win for everybody.

I’d just like to say to all the female Veterans out there, I would encourage them to donate their brains. We want our granddaughters down the line to get the best care, the best equipment, to prevent them from possibly having a life-altering injury. Let’s all take that pledge and donate our brains to help others.

Join Command Sgt. Maj. Evans and donate your brain to Project Enlist here.

You can read more about Sgt. Maj. Evans by reading her book available here.

Over the last 15 years pursing snowboarding as a career, I’ve experienced many repeated concussions, many of which were second impacts before healing from a previous hit. During the 2019-2020 season I sustained yet another concussion at the Mammoth World Cup. My concussion added to the mental health issues I developed from repeated head injuries over the years and ended up ruining my 2020-2021 competition season and making it impossible for me to compete.

After I hit my head in Mammoth I was seen by a physician. I lied and told him that I felt fine, even after developing a throbbing headache, almost fainting and vomiting as he asked me to do 10 pushups and run for a minute on the treadmill to see if I got dizzy. The only way he knew I felt OK was by asking me, and I lied and told him I was, as I had for many concussions before. I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss out on practice and the World Cup starting the next day. When I went to practice, I realized that I was putting myself at far greater risk, being that I had been experiencing vertigo, balance issues, headaches and couldn’t see straight. I decided to tell my coach I wanted to pull out of the event, and he got upset with me as if I was faking an injury to avoid having to compete in adverse weather. I was taken back by this; I knew if I hit my head again, I could be seriously injured and could possibly do permanent damage to my brain. That day, I left and got on a flight home to Colorado. If only there was a way to back up how I was feeling objectively, with science…

Luckily before the season had started, I received a baseline brain scan from a company that makes a portable EEG device. EEG is a non-invasive brain imaging technique that records the electrical activity of the brain. It has been used widely for several disorders including epilepsy, seizure, sleep, stroke, and to assess brain damage from brain injury. EEG has also been shown to be highly sensitive to post-concussion syndrome (PCS). In recent years more academics and companies have been exploring the use of this technique in the clinic as an objective tool to monitor recovery from concussion and PCS.

Sixteen days went by as I used a light and sound frequency device among other interventions to help me recover, and then I had my two week follow up EEG assessment. I was curious to see what the assessment showed as I was feeling like I had recovered from the acute symptoms, at least from this concussion. In my case, the assessment supported what I was feeling, and I was more confident knowing that the results indicated that I had recovered. This is when I knew that more objective information needs to be integrated into concussion protocols in sports. I feel very confident that if the physician in Mammoth would have also conducted objective measurements after my concussion, I wouldn’t have been able to lie and go back out risking a second impact.

As I mentioned previously, I’ve had 15 years of repeated concussions, sometimes as many as six in one year. Some of them were bad: losing consciousness, vomiting, forgetting where I was, experiencing extreme behavioral changes, etc. Some of them not so bad: mild headaches, anxiety, dizziness, not feeling like myself, saying and thinking weird things.

I started to notice that many of the things I was experiencing are symptoms of PCS. My post-concussion mental health symptoms were not going away, and they were negatively affecting me, my family, and my friends. I knew I was not alone and there were other athletes and families dealing with the same issues. I have friends whose lives and families have been seriously affected by concussion derived mental health issues. Sadly, several of them have died by suicide, are stuck in a 24/7 mental health facility, or are spending their lives using alcohol, and drugs as a way to escape their issues.

I have been traveling around the world since I was 12 snowboarding and have been very fortunate to be able to live this way. So, when I found a way to pay it forward and show my gratitude by spending time contributing to an important cause, I had to take that opportunity.

When COVID-19 hit I had a lot of time on my hands, so in March of 2020, I started a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and formed a partnership with the company that makes a portable EEG brain scanning device. My newborn nonprofit Happy Healthy Brain Foundation (H2B) was started with the aim to help prevent athletes from returning to their sport before it is safe for them to do so.

It took a long time to figure out how the Foundation could help with the concussion and mental health crisis. I realized that I had a history of returning to snow before my brain had healed from concussions and that I couldn’t even remember how many I have had. I spent of lot of time educating myself by reading articles and scientific papers and looking at technology company websites that made products used for treatment management and assessments. I learned that even when we are feeling better, our brain isn’t always fully healed, which further stresses the importance of not returning to play too early.

WAVi Medical, the technology company that manufactures the brain scanning device I used, conducted a 4 year study that was published in the 2020 Journal of Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine. The study showed that 38% of the athletes returned to play before their brain had returned to their healthy baseline. I reached out to them to partner with the Foundation. H2B’s contribution to the mental health crisis is to ensure safe, objective return-to-play protocols for athletes following a concussion or head injury. This would help prevent chronic concussion symptoms that can negatively impact athletic careers, mental health, and family life.

Our primary goal is to perform baseline brain scans on all high school age athletes that participate in concussion prone sports, so kids do not return to play before their brain has fully healed. After we have accomplished this goal, we would like to give the rest of the community the opportunity to have baseline brain scans. I know it is a pretty big challenge, but that is why I started H2B. The H2B team wants to help educate and create awareness so the parents and kids in the community understand the seriousness of concussions. You can break your arm, get a cast, and see that it has healed, but you can’t track the recovery of your brain without measuring it.

Our Foundation’s mission is to raise funds to create and support ecosystems of brain care that modernize the standard of concussion management for athletes. We are starting this initiative in Eagle County, Colorado and will hopefully expand to other areas to help make the concussions protocols in sports objective. Our Foundation’s vision is to ignite a cultural shift that adopts a new objective standard of brain care through the latest technology advancements.

I think it is important that we come together as a community to recognize that returning to play before your brain has healed plays a role in contributing to the mental health crisis.

Why am I making Concussion Tribute^TM donations?

I struggle when it comes to my relationship with football. I love it so much because of what it instills, and what it gave me – it provided me the pathway to meet my wife and provided professional opportunities I wouldn’t have had otherwise. At the same time, there are systemic problems around the sport in terms of head injuries and long-term impact to players’ brains.

That’s not to say I want football to disappear. The game is ingrained into American culture. I want to love the sport – I love the violence. I was the violence. I learned to stick my head down and not use my hands. I had to switch helmets out halfway into a season because the paint was peeling off. One training camp I had to replace my face mask several times.

But I want a way to make the sport safer, to spread awareness and education, and to find treatments for those struggling with injuries and their effects. I want young athletes to know what they are getting into. I certainly didn’t at the high school or even college level. I didn’t pay attention to head trauma until I was done playing and looking back on it, I definitely had teammates who had issues.

By taking part in Concussion Tribute™ donations, I want to offset some of the burden of guilt and enjoy football in a way that ensures I’m doing good for it in the long run. Ultimately, I hope scientific research helps advance football and I can still see a safe, responsible version of the sport I love 50 years from now.

Amount: $250

Frequency: Weekly

Duration: Through the Super Bowl

What are Concussion Tribute^TM donations?

Concussion Tribute™ donations are made to the Concussion Legacy Foundation to support the welfare of football players. Concussion Tribute™ donations are intended to show gratitude, respect, or admiration for the players who risk their brain health every game for our entertainment. Many donors are serious football fans who take immense pride in giving weekly or monthly Concussion Tribute™ donations during the football season. The funds raised from Concussion Tribute™ donations will go to research and programs designed to prevent and treat concussions and CTE.

Throughout the football season, CLF donors will be sharing why they have signed up for a Concussion Tribute™ donations. Learn more and make your Concussion Tribute™ donation this season at ConcussionTributedonations.com.

Why am I making Concussion Tribute^TM donations?

I am making Concussion Tribute™ donations to ensure we continue the race to understand the risks of, and cure, CTE.

I grew up playing and loving the sports that we now know create a prevailing risk of permanent, progressive brain damage. This includes contact sports like football, hockey, and rugby. It extends to sports like soccer and baseball with headers, collisions and foul balls.

Because of how these sports were designed, subconcussive and concussive hits to the brain are unavoidable. My Concussion Tribute™ donations are to speed the research, protect our athletes, and help families be fully informed about the risks to their child athletes.

Amount: $1,000

Frequency: Weekly

Duration: Through the Super Bowl

What are Concussion Tribute^TM donations?

Concussion Tribute™ donations are made to the Concussion Legacy Foundation to support the welfare of football players. Concussion Tribute™ donations are intended to show gratitude, respect, or admiration for the players who risk their brain health every game for our entertainment. Many donors are serious football fans who take immense pride in giving weekly or monthly Concussion Tribute™ donations during the football season. The funds raised from Concussion Tribute™ donations will go to research and programs designed to prevent and treat concussions and CTE.

Throughout the football season, CLF donors will be sharing why they have signed up for Concussion Tribute™ donations. Learn more and make your  Concussion Tribute™ donations this season at ConcussionTributedonations.com.

Posted: June 28, 2021 

Navy veteran Christine Conley has quite a story, but to her, being a part of the Concussion Legacy Foundation’s Project Enlist is the “and’ to it.

For 10 years she had a successful music career in concert and event production as a lighting technician and designer. For a long time, her travels throughout North America satisfied her inquisitive nature and desire to learn more, and she was happy. But then the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon happened. It was at that moment she decided she wanted to do something more, to find a way to give back.

So, at age 27, Conley joined the Navy and was assigned to be part of the military’s law enforcement arm. She spent most of her military career as a criminal investigator and as an instructor in weapons, security, and anti-terrorism.

While deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan she experienced significant injuries, including two events that were later identified as causes of major brain trauma. In one instance, she was inside a building that was hit by explosives and large pieces of rubble hit her on the back of her neck. Another time she was too close to an RPG blast and was thrown up against a door jamb, causing her head to snap back and hit hard. Both times, she did not give the collisions much thought and continued in the action.

Conley was involved in other firefights, too, and her injuries required numerous surgeries.

“I was a hot mess,” she said.

Conley was put on limited duty several times. After those assignments, she was told, “You’re not getting any younger,” and she decided to take a medical retirement; serving 12 years had taken enough of a toll on her body and brain.

It was while she was having some imaging done on her spine in preparation for her retirement that a physician asked if she had had experienced any traumatic brain injuries (TBIs). It was the first time she had ever considered that her earlier head injuries might be the cause of the cognitive and emotional difficulties she was experiencing. And she discovered she was not alone; the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center reports more than 410,000 service members have been diagnosed with TBI since 2000.

For a long time, Conley had been finding it was especially hard finishing sentences and coming up with the right words.

“It was like my brain was on pause. It was a great day if I could make it through getting the words out of my head to my mouth,” said Conley.

She was challenged in completing tasks and started feeling totally undone by bright lights and loud noises. Conley remembers a time when she was grocery shopping and she suddenly felt so completely overwhelmed by the people, the sounds, and the glare of the neon lights that she had to escape the store.

“I didn’t understand what was going on with me, so I had a tendency to push people away or hold them at arm’s length,” said Conley. “I wasn’t getting much sleep and was constantly on edge.  My hypervigilance and anxiety were exhausting. I was also grappling with some survivor’s guilt, which- coupled with the guilt I felt seeing my daughter struggle with the impacts of being shuffled around to different friends and family members during my deployments, led to deep depression.”

What Conley was coming up against was what some have called a “perfect storm.” She had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and her symptoms certainly were indicative of that, but she later found out she was also experiencing similar symptoms from her traumatic brain injuries. While PTSD and TBI are separate conditions, this “perfect storm” of both PTSD and TBI can be overpowering and destructive.

“There’s an incredible overlap in terms of symptoms between TBI and PTSD,” said Dr. Rebecca Van Horn, a psychiatrist and U.S. Army Reservist. “The overlap makes it really challenging to determine whether it’s TBI or PTSD causing a particular symptom or maybe it’s both. An individual not only has developed PTSD which is a reaction that occurs after an individual has experienced a trauma, but they also have a physical injury to their brain that has affected the intrinsic functioning of the brain. You have this sort of layering effect of potential structural abnormality in the brain as a result of the direct trauma and you have a behavioral reaction to that trauma in terms of someone’s emotional state and how they interact and function in the world.”

For Conley, life’s simplest responsibilities were more taxing. Her then 10-year-old daughter, Keegan, had to take on many of the adult chores her mother could no longer handle.  The toll her problems were having on her daughter were enormous. Reflecting back, Conley says, “Keegan told me, ‘My mom didn’t come back’ [from her deployment]. Keegan had to grow up fast, too fast, out of necessity because I depended on her to step in and help.”

According to the National Center for PSTD and the American Psychological Association, both PTSD and TBI can make a person more difficult to live with, and the recovery can be long and hard on a child or partner. Dr. Van Horn advises any veteran who believes they may have a history of brain trauma to seek medical care. The CLF HelpLine is also available to caregivers and patients suffering with brain injury symptoms, offering personalized recommendations for support and care.

“An important place to start would be seeing a doctor, having an evaluation of an individual’s history, doing imaging, doing studies to try to understand the nature of the TBI, and then also seeking care for the PTSD,” said Dr. Van Horn. “Several of the treatments for PTSD are also effective at addressing symptoms of depression and anxiety that may be related to TBI.”

Conley tried to seek help but had a very difficult time for many years because, despite medications and treatments, she was not finding the relief she had hoped for. She found some success with other, complementary medicine treatments and today says she feels better than she has in a long time.

“I’ll never be back to who I was, but I’ve finally been able to learn ways to help compensate for the effects from TBI and new ways to function,” said Conley.

The knowledge she gained about the major trauma to her brain which caused her cognitive and emotional difficulties, and the challenges of her search for help, have led her to work with other veterans. Conley says her path has deepened her passion for helping the military community. The same desire to make a difference that led her to enlist in the Navy is now fueling her work for the Boulder Crest Foundation, an organization working to ensure that combat veterans, first responders, and their families can live great lives in the midst of trauma.

Posted: August 6, 2020 

Hope helps us keep going through our toughest challenges. Hope is the belief that there can be a better future, and it inspires us to take action. Hope helps reduce depression and improve mental health.

Hope is a crucial component of recovery for people struggling with symptoms of concussion and Post-Concussion Syndrome (PCS). Hope can also be contagious. Our #ConcussionHope campaign provides members of the brain injury community with messages of hope, inspiration, support, and helpful tips from people who have recovered or are currently recovering from a concussion. Each Monday, we post a new Hope video to our Instagram (@concussionfoundation) and Twitter (@ConcussionLF) pages. Follow us there to never miss a new video!

If you’re struggling with the effects of concussion and need connections to resources, treatment options, or support, please submit a request to the CLF HelpLine.

Below, you’ll find some of the examples of Hope videos posted to our Instagram:

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A post shared by Concussion Legacy Foundation (@concussionfoundation)

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A post shared by Concussion Legacy Foundation (@concussionfoundation)

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Posted: June 11, 2020

Could you tell us a little bit about yourself?

My name is Oisín Joyce and I am currently a Ph.D. student at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland in the area of sports concussion and traumatic brain injury. The current focus of my research is to investigate the utility, reliability and validity of an objective test of multi-sensory integration in the hopes it would aid in the diagnosis, prognosis and recovery following a concussive incident. When I was a child, I always wanted to be a superhero and try to help people. Although my hope of acquiring superpowers remains, with age comes perspective and a degree of realism. So, for now the cape and cowl have been substituted for science and research. My interest in concussion began during my undergraduate degree in Health and Performance Science in UCD, where I received a lecture on the physiology and management of concussion from a Ph.D. student who is now a very good friend of mine. I became captivated with the science and implications surrounding concussions, not only from sporting scenarios but also a clinical standpoint. It is fascinating how much we know and yet how little we understand at the molecular level and the underlying pathology associated with concussion. It was that lecture that was the catalyst to undertake my master’s degree in Neuroscience at Trinity College Dublin and conduct a research project in the area of sports concussion.

Why did you want to get involved with CLF?

Following on from my master’s degree I worked as a research assistant II in Boston Children’s Hospital and as a research associate in Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston for a year. There, I investigated novel therapeutic targets for the treatment of concussion through small molecule arrays, alongside the development of objective and diagnostic tools for the identification of concussion and CTE in both a clinical and sports setting through animal models. Throughout my research and reading I began to get a sense that there was a lack of sound and understandable scientific information being translated to the general public and sporting bodies, and I wanted to try and reach out to my local communities back in Ireland and develop an educational outreach program alongside my doctoral studies. It was during this time in Boston that I came across CLF. I reached out wanting to get involved as an ambassador and work with them in Ireland to educate student-athletes about concussions through discussion, video, and interactive games, teaching them that successful athletes play hard and play smart.

How have those presentations gone?

I have had great success since my return to Ireland as a CLF ambassador with my educational outreach. I became a tutor for Scholars Ireland of AccessEd NGO at Trinity College. It is here that I have paired my work with CLF to provide a seven-week course discussing the basics of the brain, the science of concussion and appropriate management, and the definition of CTE. So far, I have undertaken this course with two secondary schools. Additionally, I have presented to multiple crowds of approximately 100 teenage students during health and wellness week and further talked to them about career paths in neuroscience. From these talks I had the heads of the schools come to me asking for me to talk to individual sports teams and specifically to the faculty regarding the appropriate return to education guidelines and rehabilitation management.

What has the response been like to the presentations from students and faculty?

I have received excellent responses from both students and faculty from the presentations I have given so far. They seem to really appreciate the talk and find it very informative. Many were unaware how many career paths are available in the realm of concussion research and neuroscience; they found the talk fascinating and the students got loads out of it. One administrator told me, “The students who attended the presentation were telling the other students about it which is probably the best compliment I can give you!”

What are the biggest misconceptions people have about concussions before the presentations?

Throughout all my presentations I make a point to debunk some common myths surrounding concussion. The one that comes up time and time again is that people believe concussions only happen when you get a hit to the head, but a look of surprise comes over their faces when I tell them concussions can also occur when you get a hit anywhere on the body and the resulting force is transmitted to the head causing a concussion. Furthermore, many people believe concussions only happen in contact and combat based sports, which is not true. It is true some high-speed sports or contact sports may possess a higher risk of concussion than others. But concussions can happen at any place, any time. On the pitch or on the running track. On the playground or when riding a bike or merely a slip or fall!

This can be somewhat frightening for some audience members. To address these concerns, I always conclude each presentation by asking the audience if we should be afraid of concussions. The answer is always no, we should not. There is a lot of talk as to whether parents no longer think sports are safe for their children to engage in due to the potential risk that they may suffer a concussion. But I personally think sport is one of the most purposeful and foundational activities that a child can engage in for several reasons. The first being exercise. From iPads to iPhones, PlayStations and Xboxes, the number of handheld and gaming devices out there now is overwhelming. But equally the number of devices and platforms out there almost equals the number of sports available to children. Too much screen time and lack of exercise is contributing to an unhealthy and sedentary lifestyle.

Rather than holding kids out of sports for fear of concussion, the most important thing is to make sure kids are playing sports as safely as possible. That means minimizing the amount of head impacts kids are taking and making sure any potential concussion receives proper medical care.

What is your favorite part of the Team Up Against Concussions presentations?

The active engagement with the audience. I love getting volunteers up early in the presentation to help me demonstrate the signs and symptoms of concussion. It’s always fun to see volunteers demonstrate what it is like to have blurry vision following a concussion and how that affects their perception of their surroundings.

What inspires you to keep going and do more presentations?

Knowing that for every time that I do one presentation it provides me with a larger platform to disseminate the most up to date and translatable concussion facts. One presentation leads me to another and another and before I know it I have presented to over a thousand students and faculty, all of which will have the appropriate knowledge to identify and understand the signs and symptoms respectively and act in a way that will reduce the time spent in recovery and return to both sport and education in the safest and shortest amount of time possible.

What’s next for you?

In the future I aim to continue my educational outreach with CLF alongside my doctoral studies in hopes of reaching a larger audience that will hopefully facilitate change in some aspects of sporting law across the country of Ireland. I also hope the current research I am conducting will create a more versatile and alternative approach to concussion diagnostics that accounts for the underlying pathology of the injury correlating with representative signs and symptoms.

If you’re interested in bringing concussion education to your community via the Team Up Against Concussions curriculum like Oisin, reach out to CLF’s Special Programs Manager Dan Molloy at dmolloy@concussionfoundation.org for more information.

Posted: October 25, 2019

That included hiding every injury that he could for fear of losing his job. Huscroft estimates he suffered at least 14 concussions through his career. In 2001, after several concussions compounded to the point that he could no longer hide the symptoms, he had to walk away.

Huscroft now works as a director of facilities for a nonprofit hockey association in Washington. He’s surrounded by the game he loves and enjoys giving back to the hockey community. He is working hard to make sure the old culture of unnecessary hits and hiding hockey injuries is a thing of the past. To that end, Huscroft brought the Team Up Against Concussions education program to coaches and athletes at Sno-King Ice Sports as part of USA Hockey’s Team Up Against Concussions Week.

In the interview below, Huscroft talks about his love for the game, how concussions impacted his career, and the importance of sharing the Team Up Against Concussions message.

What was it like to have such a long hockey career and what has it meant to you since?

Playing professional hockey was never on the forefront of my mind growing up. I came from a small town in British Columbia and everybody played hockey. If there were 15 boys in the class, 14 of them played hockey. On weekends we all gathered around and watched Hockey Night in Canada. It was just something we did for fun. I never thought it would take me anywhere.

When I finally did start playing more seriously in junior hockey, I loved the culture, the players, the coaching. It really taught me hard work. If you had even an inclination or a thought of moving on to the next level, you had to work hard. That attitude continued on throughout my career. When I got drafted into the NHL the reality was that a mistake could cost you everything. Especially if you were someone with my talent. I didn’t have much talent. I worked hard and I was tough, but I lived on that fringe every day where I woke up every day not knowing how long I’d have a job.

That experience really helped me in the second phase of my life and career. It prepared me for all kinds of things. I work for a nonprofit hockey association and I have for the past 15 years. I’m surrounded by kids and people who want to be at the rink every day. It’s great. Every day I wake up and thank the good Lord that he gave me the chance to play in the best league in the world for quite some time.

What was your experience with injuries and concussions during your career?

Back in the day, most of us didn’t want to take a game off. I remember Kenny Daneyko who was the fiercest warrior I’ve ever played with or against in the NHL. There were times that his teeth got taken out, his finger was broken, or his foot got broken with a slapshot or something and I’d say to him, “Kenny – why don’t you take a couple games off and let me play?” I was the 7th defensemen and could have filled in. He said to me, “Husky, if I let you play, I may never get in the lineup again.” And I’d say, “Yea you will, you’re Kenny Daneyko!” But things like that made me feel like it didn’t matter what happened—you couldn’t sit out a game.

I wound up with at least 14 concussions. There were times that I’d take a big check and I’d get knocked out, but I’d be able to get right up. If anyone asked what happened, I’d tell them my knee went out or my shoulder was hurt but I would never let them know that I got knocked out. Unless it was blatantly obvious, because if I got known for having a glass-jaw or not being able to take a hit then by golly I wouldn’t have a job the next contract.

How did concussions lead to your retirement?

I was in Vancouver when I was probably close to 30-years-old. I played three exhibition games in a row and I got knocked out three times in a row over the course of a week. That was the beginning of the end for me. There is nothing you can do to hide the injury at that point. I think the hits were from a fight, an elbow, and a simple hit to the boards. It buckled my knees every time, but I got right up because that was my job. I knew that if I said I got a concussion, I could be out for months and I wouldn’t be sure if I was coming back to a contract or not. So out of pure stupidity I didn’t speak up.

I look back and I think “why did I do that?” But that was your life when you were in the thick of a career. That’s all you knew. You just said, “I’m a warrior. I’ll get around it and persevere.” Well, that didn’t happen, and my symptoms stuck with me. A year after that I took a simple body check in an AHL game and I never recovered. I was out of the game, and it kept me out.

I had deep, dark symptoms. The whole bit. But I was one of the ones who came out of it. I had a good support system. I rebounded and I luckily got a job in business where I was exercising my brain and working out physically on my own. I rebounded and I’m very fortunate.

How can Team Up Against Concussions help prepare teams to spot and respond to concussions?

No matter where you are and what you’re doing, if you’re playing sports concussions are a possibility. It all stems at the top with your team manager or coach. With Team Up, it’s vitally and critically important that we all get the coaches and managers and players to spread that message that teammates have a responsibility to look out for each other when it comes to concussions. It is so important that we recognize concussions on the ice or on the bench. To do that we get need to teach players the Team Up message in the locker room, on the team bus, and on the ice.

You can’t tough out a concussion. I think coaches all know about it, and I think USA hockey and Hockey Canada have done a lot to educate all these coaches throughout the Level 1-5 courses that athletes can’t tough out concussions. We know to respect concussions, and the challenge is to respond accordingly. The awareness is 100-fold now compared to when I was a kid.

Do you think the culture surrounding concussions has changed since you played?

In my day, in the 80s, we knew what concussions were, but we didn’t change our behavior much. Now that we all know and respect concussions, we know that you have to be really careful. Sports, especially hockey, has done a great job taking steps to protect our youth. There is no hitting until you get to the 13-year-old level. Even then the hitting is at the top tiers. Very few hockey players will ever go on to experience the full-contact game. Kudos to USA Hockey and the NHL for adapting, bringing this issue to the forefront, and protecting our youth.

Across the board leagues are taking unnecessary hitting out of the game. I oversee about 700 athletes in our adult league right now and I’m on the discipline committee. We do not accept hitting. If you take a run at somebody and hit them and knock them over, that’s it – you’re suspended. And if you do it a couple of times, we kick you right out of the league. And youth they’re doing the same thing. Kudos to all the people that are advancing this culture change.