Phineas Gage, Lucky or Unlucky?
Survivors of traumatic brain injury are lucky. Two examples of lucky traumatic brain injury survivors are Phineas Gage and Gary Busey. These two are lucky along with the other millions of traumatic brain injury survivors. Phineas Gage and Gary Busey were both lucky because they were given a second chance at life. In addition both narrowly evaded death. Phineas Gage, a traumatic brain injury survivor, was lucky. The first reason Phineas Gage was lucky is that the tamping iron that went through his head took a path that did not kill him. Phineas could have died in over twenty different ways if the tamping iron had taken a different path through his head. I know this because in the book “Phineas Gage” it states
Phineas P. Gage was born in 1823. He was a railroad construction worker outside a small town of Cavendish, Vermont. On September 13, 1848, Phineas suffered from a traumatic brain injury, which caused severe damage to parts of his frontal brain due to his accident at work.
Traumatic brain injury occurs when a person is hit in the head with a blunt force. This significant force to the head can happen playing recreational sports, on the playground, being in a car or motorcycle accident, falling down at home and your head impacting something, a blast or explosion. Traumatic brain injuries are also the leading cause of fatality rate and disability, especially in children, young adults and elderly. TBI is a devastating condition that affects millions of people nationwide, because it can affect the nervous system permanently, it also messes with the neurological, musculoskeletal, cognitive and much more. TBI force a family to deal with not just the physical disability, with the behavioral and emotional roller
Of the 1,696 players, 271 players suffered a concussion through the first day of practice to the Super Bowl. That is roughly twelve percent of NFL players suffering a concussion in this latest season. In all of the articles researched, the authors have mentioned CTE, which has been stated as a fact after multiple traumatic brain injuries. With the mentions of CTE addresses the suicides of Junior Seau, Frank Gifford, and many other players who played back in the time with less rules and notifications of players having head and neck injuries.
every athlete suffers from a form of a concussion at least once in their lives, but the surprising
Even with the advancements of equipment and rules, CTE is still effecting athletes. Athletes that have suffered significant trauma to the brain are at a severe risk for CTE. CTE has caused countless deaths, dozens of suicides and even
Chronic traumatic encephalopathy effects over 1.2 million professional athletes every season from the pop warner leagues to the professional leagues. There are several ways to get a concussion. The most common way to get a concussion is through the engagement in sports, and sports-related activities. Other common ways are car accidents, motorcycle accidents, falls from a big playground obstacle, and more. The symptoms of a concussion can last for various intervals of time, most concussions that occur as a result of full blown hit to an athlete last for months and years. The ignorance of not knowing what a concussion is, results in the death of various prominent athletes in the professional league. Athletes such as : Owen Thomas , Mike Borich , Junior Seau , John Mackey , John Grimsley , Lou Creekmur , Ray Easterling , Dave Duerson all committed suicide due to concussion trauma and injuries.
Attention for traumatic brain injury has grown over the years and programs have been created to help try and prevent the injuries. As this is an injury to the brain the literature is vast with insight into what part of the brain injured resulted in what change in the individual. Children and athletics have been the main focus in recent years for studies as research have shown that undiagnosed injuries can have long lasting effects.
Concussions ended Chris Miller’s football career. Today many players
Did you know a concussion is so dangerous it can lead to death? According to Matthew Futterman from the article “Football: The Concussion Game Changer” show,“The dire need for better methods of diagnosing brain trauma surfaced again this month when researchers at Boston University announced that Kevin Turner, a former University of Alabama and NFL player died from a motor neuron disease brought on by CTE” (Futterman, Pg1). Turner was forty six when he died in March and suffered brain symptoms since 2010. Through the perspective of concussions, it shows its dramatic life long impact on a person's life. A concussion is a traumatic brain injury that alters the way your brain functions. Effects are usually temporary but can include headaches
These strong survivors pose as teachers and role models by revealing strengths, weaknesses and survival techniques. Wiesel and Ten Boom survive against the odds, but not without physical and emotional scars.
Former players, who have been affected by this type of brain trauma will often get worse as they age. NFL players age 30-49 are 19 times more likely
The effects on an athlete and his or her family have debilitating effects on their personal relationships. ("Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)", 2016).
His job was to put dynamite into a hole, one day he struck some dynamite causing the metal pole to go right through his head. When it went through his head he was conscience through it all. He went to the doctors. They had to remove the metal pole, put their fingers on both sides of the wound and pull out bits of mental, skull, and brain. The doctor’s then had to drain some of the fluid through gages nose. Which is pretty gross. Phineas was alive, he could still walk and talk. His family said his attitude changed and he got more bossy and was so impatient.
In the health world, concussions are finally now deemed as serious issues to physicians and athletic trainers. A couple decades ago, concussions were seen as just “getting your bell rung” with no long-term effects, that is really tragic when we really look back on it. There were many
Traumatic brain injury is any damage caused to the brain. Individuals with TBI may show aphasia-like symptoms, yet the characteristics of TBI include mostly cognitive processes deficits. Those characteristics include disrupt orientation, attention, memory, visual processing, and executive functions problems. Penitents with TBI experience a blackout that can last anywhere between a few minutes up to months and usually wake up confused and disoriented. They do not have any recollection of the events that occurred. In addition to the common characteristics mentioned earlier, TBI patients exhibit communication deficits that relate to poor cognitive functioning such as problems with word finding, grammatical, spelling, reading, and writing. The cause of TBI is very straightforward, unlike SLI or ASD. Any injury to the head, for example motor vehicle accidents, falls, blast trauma, and more, can cause a TBI. These in turn can cause damage to multiple areas of the brain and impair motor, speech, language, and cognitive functions as discussed. It is important to note that unlike ASD that usually