I suffered 3 concussions in a 3 year period -- all from stupid accidents, not sports -- and the effects have persisted for years, even with various types of rehabilitation. It's very difficult to describe how a concussion changes a person. Of course, problems with balance and speech are obvious. But for me, the concussions also impacted my mind, my ability to think. I used to be able to read for an entire day, soaking up information. But now, it's like I hit a brick wall after a certain point, where it becomes impossible to proceed. I basically have a set amount that I can learn in one day -- whether it's the API for a library, the architecture of legacy code, etc.

Multitasking has become extremely difficult, even though it was never a problem for me before. It's a complete killer for my mind and it will exhaust it at the expense of the previously mentioned information-acquiring capacity very quickly. When I worked as a developer, trying to switch between multiple tickets between code reviews, conducting chats in multiple channels, and jumping back and forth between various programming languages was a huge sap upon my limited mental energy.

My first concussion wasn't too severe, but my second one was more so, as I probably was still healing from the first one. I had just come back from a break from work and didn't feel right in taking sick time. Compounding this, I was in the process of switching careers to become a developer and was studying very hard every night. I remember one night, about a week after my concussion, when I was writing some code. The pain in my head increased, until it became a pain of an intensity that I had never experienced before. This was probably my first experience of what would become many years of migraines... and this next part is probably unscientific, but I really felt that something "broke" at that point, as it signaled the start of many months of cognitive decline and emotional instability.

I sustained my third concussion when I felt pretty well healed from the second one. Not having learned my lesson, I didn't take much time off of work. While I didn't feel something "break" like the second time, I was working on a difficult project under a short time schedule, and I was worried about losing my first programmer job and the damage that could occur to my career if that were to happen. I made it through that project, but then new problems began to develop... and to persist. Two years later I still have many of the same problems. I wonder if my dedication to that job and love for programming have resulted in irreversible damage. It wasn't worth it.

Friends, we are all on this site because we are people who greatly use our minds. I want you all to remember that we each only get one brain, which is not only essential to our profession but which is the core of our personality, of who we are. The severity of impact is not associated with the severity of damage from a concussion, and experiencing one concussion makes you more prone to further concussions. My 3 dumb accidents have made the last 5 years of my life difficult in many ways, and have probably changed me for the rest of my life.

As such, I cannot condone willingly embarking upon an activity such as football which so clearly places one's mind at risk. To the author of this piece and to some who read it, football may be a game, but I think that our lives are more valuable than games to be played, than entertainment to be had. For every high profile recovery like this, there are countless children who are severely and permanently damaged for the sake of sport. Treasure your mind and the minds of your loved ones. And if you ever do suffer from a concussion, take complete and absolute rest, lest you jeopardize the healing process and find yourself with lifelong injury.