RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — We’ve heard a lot about concussions in the news lately across the country. Usually, those stories involve football players — boys — getting hurt.
Here at home, though, there’s a new push by the Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU to protect your boy and girl athletes. Girls are twice as likely to suffer a concussion, or traumatic brain injury as boys. The numbers are astounding and continue to climb.
Meet 11-year old Sophie Dolan.
She is a spunky, athletic tween girl who loves VCU and is all smiles. But to get to where she is now, Sophie spent the last six months in grueling therapy at VCU’s Children’s Hospital. In March, Sophie was on the basketball court during a championship game when she suffered a concussion, also known as a traumatic brain injury (TBI.)
“I got elbowed by my temple here,” Sophie said. “I stayed in the game. It felt like I got poked in the eye.”
That’s all Sophie’s coach and parents thought it was: a bump on the head. Something that little, a good night’s sleep and some ice would fix… but that wasn’t the case.
“My head was pounding and I couldn’t’ really sit up because I was so dizzy,” Sophie explained.
The next morning, Sophie’s mom realized something was terribly wrong.
“It was just completely unreal,” said Jill Dolan, Sophie’s mom. “Her eyes could not focus, she had vertigo and the child who was running down the court, scoring baskets just hours ago, was unable to walk.”
VCU therapist Pat Stevens, who specializes in brain injuries, says Sophie’s is the most difficult case she’s ever seen.
“A concussion or a TBI is an invisible injury,” Stevens said. “You can’t really see anything outside, but you can see it by the symptoms the child shows. Their balance their nausea, their fatigue.”
So, Sophie got to work with lots of therapy.
Stevens tells 8News anchor Christina Ferrick that awareness and prevention are just as important as treatment. So parents, here are the top five symptoms you need to be aware of:
- Headache
- Dizziness
- Sensitivity to light and noise
- Nausea
- Mental fogginess
“It doesn’t have to be a massive impact to create pretty extreme results.”
Sophie is a fighter, though. She’s worked hard at home and at VCU’s Children’s Hospital to get better. Now, she is promoting children’s hospital’s all across Central Virginia, telling folks that concussions on and off the field are nothing to play around with.
“I just had to block out all the pain and work really hard, but it’s worth it,” Sophie said.
Sophie says she feels 100 percent. She’s just been cleared by doctors to get back on the basketball court.
Click here for more information about the campaign at VCU’s Children’s Hospital.
