The Concussion Blog

The memories of Matt Dunigan are both good and bad from his years in the Canadian Football League.  Unfortunately, the recent thoughts to his past have made a profound statement about concussions in sports, in particular football;

How far has post-concussion syndrome penetrated the culture of sport? Witness the tear-streaked face of former CFL star Matt Dunigan in his interview with Brian Williams last Friday on TSN. In a shockingly personal segment, Williams led Dunigan though the hell brought on by at least twelve diagnosed concussions in his playing career. The troubled private life of a very public athlete (Dunigan won two Grey Cups) was put in a new perspective as he wept beside his wife.

His wife went on to tell the audience the Dunigan forgot how to laugh and lost his sense of humor, basically becoming a shell of himself since ending his playing days.  Dunigan also came face-to-face with a very difficult and troublesome decision when it came to his own son and concussions.

You can see the video HERE.

The words he spoke really rang home with me, it as if he was speaking of situations and conditions that I have personally dealt with.  On top of that having a supportive wife, one who is trying to understand the dynamics of dealing with a vast amount of head trauma.  I couldn’t help but completely sympathize with Dunigan, even at times feel his emotion during the interview.  Just because a few of us have had our “eggs scrambled” a few too many times does not mean the game should go away.  It merely means that we should know about all the risks associated with our choices.  And when the times comes, in an unfortunate incident of a concussion we must handle it correctly.