Hi Joanne,

You have my sincere sympathy for your plight.

With advances in imaging, the more research that is done, the more we realize just how serious concussion is. The brain never goes back completely to normal. Consequently, each new blow magnifies the damage exponentially. Yet despite the frequency and life-altering nature of concussion, most doctors remain infuriatingly ignorant. Concussion is not some minor "bump on the head."

Canadian pediatricians are lobbying to change the term "concussion" to "traumatic brain injury" in the hope that it will make doctors, patients, parents and coaches treat this condition with the seriousness it deserves.

On the plus side, the brain has an enormous capacity for placticity: to find new neuro pathways to get the job done. The problem is that very few resources are dedicated to brain injury. In Canada, only one in twenty patients will get anything approaching proper rehabilitation. In the U.S. the amount of research money, especially as a ratio to the vast number of victims, is beyond pathetic.

Perhaps having so many of our poor soldiers returning from Afghanistan with TBIs will shine some light on our neglected community.