Smash! The car pulled out of the Lapps parking lot on Kingstown. The airbags deployed quicker than a blink of an eye leaving a rapid ringing in the ears, while dust particles fly all over the place.
“The impact left me starstruck,” Zyan said. The accident left the car totaled and a nonstop pounding headache. Zyan was not wearing a seatbelt, so the initial jolt of the two cars colliding caused him to go flying and he hit his head on the windshield. The windshield cracked leaving a brushburn spot on his head.
The EMT checked him out and everything was fine… he thought. When he woke up on Monday morning his head was pounding and his neck was sore. That is when he knew something was off.
He stayed home Monday then the days went by, and he had been home for a week. During that week all he did was sleep, eat, and take Ibuprofen. It was a struggle for him to move and stand up. From Zyan’s perspective, the pain felt like, “the top of his head was cut off and someone was poking his brain.”
Many days passed and Zyan finally had enough of the pain and knew he had to get checked out. So he went to MedExpress, and after hours of waiting, the doctors told him to go to the hospital to get tests done. They figured he only had a concussion but wanted to make sure nothing else was wrong.
At the hospital, a CAT Scan and X-rays revealed a positive concussion. They sent him home with a prescription for nausea and an excuse that reinforced he had suffered a concussion.
A big struggle for Zyan was getting back into the groove and doing his schoolwork. He states, “Going back to school was hard because even though I was only gone for a week, I felt like everything passed me up and I was stuck behind.”
The overwhelming feeling of getting caught up, mixed with learning new things caused him to stress, as well as the results of his mixed-up brain.
Teachers were very understanding and helped him a lot along the way. “My teachers helped me a lot, they spent extra time working with me to get caught up.” Zyan had to put in the extra work but with a lot of support from his teachers, he was able to get caught up and get things done.
An after-school activity Zyan enjoys is going to the gym and working out, but sadly with a concussion that was impossible. Zyan had to realize that his health was way more important than working out, which was a huge struggle for him. He knew if he went to the gym his head would hurt even more than it did already and he did not want to risk causing more damage.
Zyan felt very lost and upset since he could not do his favorite activity, so he started walking and getting fresh air on the daily. Really bad headaches occurred even from that, so he was lost. He decided that he just needed rest so he could have a fast and easy recovery.
The support from his friends and family has helped Zyan a ton. Zyan says, “My family and friends have honestly been my biggest support system throughout my recovery,” Zyan said. “They have kept me going.” His family understands the challenges of having a concussion and has dropped everything to help. “They are my rock,” He says.
After a month, Zyan’s concussion is getting a lot better, his headaches are now very mild and are not constant anymore. Zyan started to do very light workouts at the gym and when a headache comes on he knows that is when he needs to stop. He got caught up on all of his schoolwork. “If you have a concussion I say take it slow and take a lot of Ibuprofen,” Zyan said with a smirk on his face.
Through all of the hard challenges, Zyan stayed positive and pushed through. He shows us no matter what challenge you are faced with that there will always be a bright light at the end of the tunnel.
