Just a Season of Life by Elizabeth

Just a Season of Life by Elizabeth - April 2019 Scholarship Essay

It was my Sophomore year in high school and the second semester was creeping upon us. This meant it was time to try out for flag football and so the excitement within me was strong. Going out to tryouts I knew it was necessary for me to shine, there was around 80 girls trying out. Lacing up my cleats the only thing that ran through my mind was “try your best and the rest will come” and that’s what happened. Giving it my everything those two days payed off, making the Junior varsity team for my second time. This year excited me more because I wanted to impress the varsity coach so he would remember me for the next year.
We had been practicing together as a team for about two weeks and our first game was right around the corner. In this practice we had to scrimmage the varsity girls to get a better idea of an actual game. It was the first play, I was playing running back. The quarterback started the play not one bit right, causing us to collide head to head at a full speed sprint. Shortly, I knew the outcome of this wasn’t looking so good for me. I immediately couldn’t see out of my left eye for about 10 seconds and everything was a blur. Sitting on the sideline the only things memorable was the trainer telling me words. Shortly later she asked the words again and none of them could I remember. That night my Doctor recommended me to get cat scans done so it was a long night in the E.R.
Being told by the E.R just to sleep it off probably caused me more trouble than normal. It did nothing to help my brain at all and if anything, it caused a major setback. After sleeping an entire week for spring break, I returned for one day of school to find myself dizzy, with migraines, and unable to function. When my Doctor realized there was no progress being made, she demanded I see a concussion specialist. After having testing done its results showed that my brain was only functioning at 37%. The normal for my age is around 75%.
When I learned vestibular therapy would be in my future it completely opened my eyes to how much this had impacted me. My brain would have to be completely retrained but there was one problem that faced us. She told us that going to school would set me back because of the smells, scents, and noises. Quickly I was approved for hospital homebound where all my school would be done at home. Getting all new seven classes and teachers wasn’t easy and I also had limitations on computer time.
Three months of therapy resulted in me finishing my Sophomore year at home. It was the hardest school challenge that I ever had to face. Thoughts always raced through my head but a major one was that I didn’t think this year of school was going to count for me. I thought in the future homeschooling would be required so that I would catch up. Instead I started doing all that could possibly be done. Teachers had to come to my house all in the same time as my therapies and many Doctors appointments. There were many days where I would just break down and want to give up, but my parents pushed me through. They would encourage me, help me, and remind me that it was only a season of life. It isn’t something I would wish on anyone to go through, but it strengthened me as a person today.