When I was hit in the head by a baseball: The day that changed my life forever

@nonew3 (1941)
United States
September 27, 2010 8:29pm CST
I used to be involved in sports, and was once the captain of a softball team, until one day in junior high when I was hit in the head by a baseball when I was watching a baseball game. I, being short, was sitting behind a guy who was taller than me, and did not see a baseball coming straight at me until it was too late to catch it or duck. There was simply not enough time. So, it hit me hard in the head. I was not knocked out and there was no obvious skull fracture, and so no one did anything. Nothing abnormal has shown up on any MRIs, CAT scans, or X-ray tests. But, I gradually started having problems with my eyes and functional vision, bouts of sudden profound vertigo, bouts of intense nausea, headaches, auditory-processing problems, short-term-memory problems, and emotional problems. The doctors and other specialists have, for the most part, failed me miserably in figuring this out, helping me figure it out, and helping me get disability accommodations for all this. But, it appears that it was a mild traumatic brain injury that caused a lot of my disabilities. I believe that even people who go to baseball, softball, and football games to watch them should wear helmets. All it takes is one whack to the head to change your life. Well, I was forced to quit the softball team because I became very afraid of flying balls, and because I could not hit the ball or catch teh ball on time. I would keep swinging the bat a split second or more past the time when the ball would fly by, and I would always miss the ball when trying to catch it. And, well, the vertigo ended my trying to learn karate. (Have you ever tried to do a roundhouse kick while spinning violently?) Now, it is a slow process to try to get some sort of normal function back.
1 response
• United States
28 Sep 10
Ouch this has to be a very painful incident. I hope that you get better. It is unfortunate that while trying to enjoy a nice game you end up injured. Take care and be well.
@nonew3 (1941)
• United States
30 Jul 11
I am going through vision therapy to retrain my brain-vision and vision-equilibrium (balance) areas of my brain. I have gone through a lot of physical therapy, and this is definitely harder than any of the physical therapy I have ever endured, because my brain has many ways of telling me that it really hates what I am trying so hard to force it to do. I am warning people to wear helmets even when watching baseball games in a stadium. Those balls are hard and they go by really fast!
• United States
12 Aug 11
Wow I did not realize it was that much of an injury. I am really sorry to hear you have gone through a great deal of pain and therapy over it. I do hope things are getting back to its normalcy friend and thanks for the warning because you are so right those hits go at really fast speeds.