Evidence of meeting #2 for Subcommittee on Sports-Related Concussions in Canada in the 42nd Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was know.
A video is available from Parliament.
Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, Lib.
Would you say this was a very highly trained coach at the time?
November 21st, 2018 / 7:40 p.m.
Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, Lib.
All right.
Looking back, do you know whether the club you were playing with had field protocols in place?
Chris, do you know if a protocol existed for what they were supposed to do on the field when an injury took place?
As an Individual
No. I did not see that through any of the academy's or any performance.
To build on your comment a minute ago, as Rachel was explaining, in her situation—and every situation is unique—most of her symptoms didn't present until three, four, five, almost seven or eight days after the immediate time, which is not uncharacteristic.
Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, Lib.
That's good to know.
I guess the main thing is that it's good to see whether or not a protocol...because, again, I don't know what protocols they would have been instructed in. We were always trained that there were supposed to be field protocols at the time. It's hard to say whether those were followed or whether the club had been trained in those.
Were you, at that time, advised to seek medical attention? I don't mean at the moment but during that game or that practice?
As an Individual
They were a little bit concerned about it.
As far as I know, I was the only person training at that academy at the time who ever had a concussion. They just kind of sent me on my way. It wasn't that it was normal, but it was “normal-ish” to be in pain after practice. That just kind of came along with the sport, I'd say. Nobody was overly concerned until about a week later, when I couldn't function.
At the time, there wasn't a lot of concern. Nobody said I should go to the hospital. There was nothing like that. Nobody said on the field that I wasn't okay and that I needed to go to the hospital or go home. Nobody had that concern until a week later, when my symptoms made me non-functional.
Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, Lib.
During that practice, or during that game, did you have any other, less severe blows to the head? Did you take another header or anything like that during that game?
As an Individual
No. I didn't after that.
After I got up, I knew that I wasn't right, but I thought it would go away. I thought it would just disappear. I didn't use my head. I kind of backed off and shied away from the ball because I knew there was something wrong with me. I continued to play, but I didn't use my head in that practice again.
Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, Lib.
I know you said this, but could you please refresh my memory? How long after this happened did you first seek medical attention?
As an Individual
It was about a week after, I'd say. I went to my family doctor.
Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, Lib.
Thank you.
Carly, regarding your experience, did they assess you at the time it happened? Did someone do any tests like this on you? I'm going to ask many of the same questions. Did they ask you, “How many fingers?” or “What's the date today?” or any of those things?
As an Individual
Yes, I was assessed at the game.
My coach has had her own experience with severe concussions. She's now 40 years old and she still can't read a newspaper because of the grey on the black. She's had severe concussions herself, so she knows what to do. She's been trained to ask those questions.
She brought me outside of the gym into a quiet room. She sat with me and got me water until someone came to bring me to the hospital, because she knew it wasn't good.
Mr. Peter Fonseca (Mississauga East—Cooksville, Lib.)
We are about 15 minutes from concluding. Some of the members may be open to staying a bit longer, but I believe some of the witnesses may have to leave because they have a flight to catch. If it's necessary for you to leave, you can.
We are going to move over now to Mr. Nuttall for five minutes.
Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte, CPC
Thank you.
First of all, thank you so much, everybody, for coming today.
Rachel, I hope you don't mind my asking this question, because I spent time in elite soccer academies in the GTA. When your coach was yelling at you to get up, do you remember thinking at that point, “I should stay down”?
That's a tough question and I apologize for asking it.
As an Individual
That's okay.
I was definitely thinking, “Wow, there's something wrong here.” I've never felt that kind of blow to my head before.
But, at the same time, you don't want to disappoint your coach. You don't want to disappoint the teammates around you, and you don't want to look like a weak little player. If somebody is screaming right in your face and it's your coach saying, “Get up”, most athletes are going to get up.
Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte, CPC
My question is for both you and Carly. Do you still play sports?
As an Individual
Well, I tore my ACL last year, so I'm currently going through rehab for that. Soon I'll be back to sports, yes.
Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte, CPC
I just had surgery for my ACL.
Rachel, go ahead.
As an Individual
I'm at U of T right now, studying. After grade 11, I did not go anywhere near soccer for two or three years. I was absolutely terrified. Even though I was cleared to run and stuff, I was terrified to go back to soccer.
In my second year of university, a couple of my teammates from high school convinced me to come out and play house league soccer. I did that in the summer, just for fun, and I fell back in love with the game. I was kind of like, why did I stop? It's clear that I was scared. I went to U of T and I was offered a scholarship to join the varsity team. My parents didn't like that idea, so I didn't accept that scholarship. However, at U of T, I'm playing on a developmental soccer team.
So, yes, I'm still playing, but for fun, not competitively.
Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte, CPC
That's great to hear.
I have a final question.
I'm hearing a lot about mental health from you specifically. We still know so little about the development of the mind, as a science. How difficult was it to move from just the concussion side of the trauma that you were going through at that point to the mental health sphere of our medical system? It varies across the country, I will admit. Can you give me three or four words to describe that process?
Maybe the point should be from the parents on this, if that's okay, because they probably would have been trying to manoeuvre their young people in that direction.
As an Individual
Going back to the comments earlier, for me it was the opportunity to say that there is a problem. You know your child best. How do you say, “It's okay to stay away from school”, “It's okay to stay in bed”, or “It's okay; you don't have to do this”? That discussion point is really difficult to have.
I think the friends, the colleagues, watching Rachel lose connection through all of her network and not being in school for three months.... As a parent, you know something is seriously wrong when they're not texting, chatting or watching TV because they can't. All of a sudden, that distance takes place at a grade 11 age, in this case, and that creates a huge gap. That creates depression and a lack of connection, and that brings on more and more pressure.
To me, that is the moment of truth. How do you navigate through that? It's very, very difficult putting your hand up and saying, “It's depression” or something else. We as parents don't know what it is. We just know they're not well.
As an Individual
It's truly changed who Carly is, even to this day. She still suffers from depression. It is a lot better. She was one of those big athletes all through grade school. Starting in grade 9, she was in all the sports. Her passion was soccer. Her passion was basketball. She did high-level soccer as well. When you lose all of that, you lose a piece of yourself, 100%. You have to recreate your whole identity when you're no longer that athlete. That has probably been her biggest struggle.
Even to this day, she no longer has the same circle of friends. She probably would have spent her whole high school career with those friends. It's a different group now. She still has her close friends, but she doesn't go out like a lot of the other kids do. On the weekends, I'm telling her, “Go out with your friends. Do stuff.” It's changed the dynamics of who she probably would have been as a person.