Not even for a million dollars

The summer Olympics are happening right now. In the women's European football quarterfinals march between Colombia and Spain, the Colombian goal keeper, Katherine Tapia, got a bad hit to the head. The match had to stop for three minutes while the medical team assessed her for injuries to her face, bones and brain. In the end, they cleared her to keep playing. I was certain she had suffered a concussion. It was not the first time I watched a collision in a match and thought the player should have left the field.

While sports are at the cutting edge of medical knowledge and techniques for all kinds of injuries, the reason for this is because of the extremes athletes will go to, and are pushed to.

Do you know the difference between American football and rugby? Safety gear. And still the athletes playing American football end up with countless injuries, including brain injuries.

I understand we need sports. I understand we can't and shouldn't be bubble-wrapped when we play. But I also understand that when we take a hit, we need to get off the field of play, get properly assessed, give the body time to react and heal, and recover and only then should we return. I also believe that if a player has sustained repeated brain injuries, regardless of whether they show lingering symptoms, that player should leave the field behind. Giving up what you love hurts. But losing yourself, and possibly dying young, is worse.

There's a complication of repeated brain injuries that is most predominant in athletes. It's called Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE). This is when the brain has taken too many hits, been damaged too many times, and the nerves die, leaving holes in the brain. The symptoms are varied, and individual, dependent on what parts of the brain are lost. It can cause memory loss, physical disabilities, or even personality changes. The only way to definitively diagnose CTE right now is through autopsy after death. But we know the more hits you take, the higher the risk.

I got one diagnosed concussion from a simple slip and fall and subsequent PCS that has changed my life. I can't imagine living with the multiple injuries so many athletes rack up.

Would I play a high contact sport? No, not even for a million dollars.