[3lysium]

I do not know about any of you but I am a huge Hockey fan I just love the game. I used to love to play but at the moment I can still just watch. I could go into who is better "the Red Wings" and who is not "the Pens" but that would make little difference in my topic for this discussion. For instance Sydney Crosby a Pen player he's received many hits to the head in the past two years. His role as a star player makes him a target for many of the grinding power players. At the end of last year he received a concussion and it turned out to be a form of PCS. I have family members and friends that would be happy he is gone being a rival competitor but I can not excess to them enough how serious this is. I personally would never wish this type of injury on any body not even my worst enemy if I really had one. But in all of the negative I could focus on I prefer to look at it in a good light. Crosby is not the only pro sports player to receive a PCS diagnosis but to me he seems to have jump started an awareness to the main media stream and the public. Which in turn is making changes around the sports approach to head trauma. A for instance would be in the NHL they are cracking down on hits targeted to the head. Now the game is still hockey and those kind of injuries will happen but it will limit them down to a rarity. You may ask what dose this have to do with me. Well my opinion is that as bad as it is to see a player or anyone go thru this Crosby has shed a new light on the subject which will lead to better research better diagnosis hopefully better treatment and prevention. Another angle that I like to look at this is not really a media covered event that I feel should be, is that with the deviation of the on going war thousands of our troops are coming home with this prognosis and i feel that with the treatments they are developing for our troops we might one day soon have some alternatives to treating each symptom separately. As a person hoping for a break through in this field I have some things to watch for in the next few years. Perhaps it will be a small step forward but in my opinion any steps taken are worth a closer look and with a closer look at PCS whether through the media or through special programs for our military it is a form of progress for any and all suffering through this invisible ailment.