In the months that followed, many of the signs of brain injury appeared. It took me years to understand the consequences of brain injury. None of my doctors fully explained my problems nor told me what to expect or how to cope. Each year more than 1,000,000 Americans suffer its effects from automobile accidents, falls, work related accidents, physical assaults and sports injuries, such as football, hockey and soccer. Of that number, more than 30,000 children ages 0-19 sustain permanent disabilities as the result of brain injuries at an estimated lifetime cost of over 4 million dollars per person.
Children are especially at risk in the afternoon after being dismissed from school.
In fact, one of my own sons was injured in a sports accident. A child is four times more likely to be seriously injured in a bicycle or roller-blading accident than to be kidnapped by a stranger. A child active in sports may be hit in the head or fall and be rendered briefly unconscious. The child may get up and play the remainder of the game, and only months later begin to experience symptoms of brain injury, called post-concussive syndrome. A person's condition immediately following injury may not always indicate the seriousness of brain injury.