Brain Injuries: How Serious Are They?
By: Jackson Ross

Brain issues, are the brutal and agonizing injuries that can happen to anyone. There are many questions involving brain issues, such as having them being over-passed, or being considered not as bad as diseases and other problems. When people suffer from concussions, epilepsy, or other brain related issues, they are always treated with care. The question is, are they as important as other diseases or injuries. Brain injuries are often not paid attention to by most people. Most issues related to the brain are all severe, but some can be minor while others can kill. These life-threatening injuries are harmful to families and their communities. Problems occurring in the head should not be ignored, instead they should be recognized as somewhat of a dilemma. As part of the “matter” in the world, these problems need to be solved.

There are several ways brain injuries are omitted, and one way usually occurs because of adults. Coaches and parents often bypass these issues happening inside of the skull, possibly because they are either too afraid to do anything to help or they usually believe that the person just got a little “beat up”. When the victim of a concussion or other head injury has symptoms they must be attended to, not avoided. Sending the person right back to what they were doing before, is going to make thing worse.

Epilepsy is another medical condition involving the brain. Seizures can often frighten people, causing them to panic, which then leads even more problems. Face twitching, tongue bleeding, no matter how frightening a seizure might be, help is crucial. If any person has a seizure, there are many steps to take to aid them. Get the individual to a comfortable spot such as a bed or the floor, do not stick any fingers in the person’s mouth, and do not panic and call 911 unless they are not breathing. It is essential for adults to understand what to do when someone has a brain injury, therefore they can help the person out and benefit the community by following important procedures.

Personal experience is always helpful and handy. My brother Jamey, a bright and awesome person, was diagnosed with epilepsy in the fourth grade. Epilepsy is something that is also ignored a lot. Compared to cancer and other diseases, it’s nothing! Looking at how many people go to breast cancer awareness fundraisers versus epilepsy awareness fundraisers, cancer fundraisers beat out the epilepsy ones by a lot. For example, in the Denver Race for the Cure Walk/Run, there are usually about 60,000 participants, but in the Denver Strides for Epilepsy Walk/Run there are usually about 2,000 participants. There is a major difference and there needs to be a change. At my last birthday party, instead of getting presents, I asked all of my friends to donate five to ten dollars so I could give it to the Epilepsy Foundation. All of my friends donated and I ended up with 200 dollars to give. After giving the money to the organization, they asked if Jamey and I wanted to start the Strides for Epilepsy Walk/Run in Denver this year. We said yes, but I want to make a bigger change, so I am going ask all of my friends to participate in the event. Hopefully epilepsy awareness can become as good as cancer awareness one day.

Not only having my brother being epileptic, I have suffered from four excruciating, agonizing, dreading concussions. These are very serious injuries that can be ignored too. A student at the school Grandview died a couple years ago because of a concussion. Professional hockey player Peter Mueller of the Colorado Avalanche, suffered a concussion a year and a half ago and still has not returned to play. More and more people are being harmed from concussions. Studies are improving, but concussions are still minority to other injuries and problems. Dedication and awareness are vital for the success of helping studies for concussions. Concussions are brutal injuries, and there is no doubt about it, they are among the several issues on planet Earth that can change because of the people in on it.

To make the world a better place, scientist and people need to take advantage of their resources. Using advanced technology should be able to benefit towards more studies for brain issues. To aid the studies money could be supplied as a huge helping hand. After some very purposeful work and studies, sports equipment and special machines could be used to prevent brain problems. Brain injuries are serious and they need to be recognized with more care. That is why doing anything to help with studies will benefit the whole world, make it a safer place, and will also take out part of the “matter” in the world.