The whole team froze when senior Neele Thom dropped to the ground after getting hit in the head with the ball and the end of last Thursdays lacrosse game. Already having three concussions during high school and being encouraged by her doctor not to play, the team feared this would be the end. Three weeks into the season, Thom’s lacrosse career came to an abrupt finish.

“I remember looking up from the ground and thinking ‘wow, rain looks weird when you are looking up at it,’” Neele said. She did not know how she got on the ground, her memory ended when she hit and began again after she was laying on her back looking up at the sky.

“When she got hit, I went into panic mode. I could not move because I was so scared that she was dead when she dropped to the ground,” younger sister Aenne Thom said.

Heading into the season Neele’s mom was against her playing this year. Neele’s third concussion was over winter break and when preseason was beginning, she was finally recovering from it. “At first I was reluctant to let her play. I was afraid she would get hurt but then she seemed fine so I decided it would be okay,” Aenne said.

“When you get hit, you try to piece everything together,” Neele said. After having so many concussions she goes through the same mental routine every time it happens. Where she is, what just happened, what day it is, where she is “part of your brain knows what is going on, part of it feels weird,” Neele said.

In the last year, more people have been getting serious repercussions for playing with too many concussions. “I made this decision at the beginning of the year knowing the risk I was taking, I’m just glad nothing super bad happened,” Neele said. Concussions occur when your brain is bruised, it leaves you with a headache as your brain tries to heal. Other symptoms can include irritability, dizziness and depending on what section of your brain is damaged, certain brain functions can be impaired. The more concussions you receive increases the risks of serious harm including long term cognitive impairment, higher risk of seizure and post-concussion syndrome.

“I know it is my senior year and all but I would rather live normally then finish out a season of lacrosse,” Neele said.