Megan Beckman: Headed Forward
At the Shasta Winter Classic soccer tournament in Redding last February, Davis High junior Megan Beckman was a step behind her game. She wasn’t bombing her signature balls across the goal and her movement on the field wasn’t at her usually lightning-fast speed.
About halfway through the game she collapsed on the field. She was slammed with a sudden wave of exhaustion, dizziness and confusion, and had a pounding headache.
“I didn’t know where to go or where to pass the ball. I was pretty spacey too, but that’s all that I remember,” Beckman said.
Beckman was diagnosed with a concussion after being rushed to an ER near the field. However, after being referred to a sports physician back home, Beckman learned that she had Second Impact Syndrome (SIS).
SIS is a condition that occurs when an athlete returns to a sport too soon after recovering from a concussion. After trauma to the brain, the state of the brain is fragile and even the smallest amounts of force to the body can cause further brain damage.
In Beckman’s case, she had suffered from whiplash while skiing for Davis High. Before recovering completely, she returned to soccer—a sport defined by its physicality and where players are expected to encounter collisions.
Beckman was taken out of school and put on brain rest for three weeks after her diagnosis. She said that at first she was very fatigued and slept most of the time. One day she slept for 18 hours.
Although she was taken out of school and was forced to take it easy, Beckman hated being on brain rest.
“It sucked. I couldn’t do anything besides pretty much sit. I couldn’t watch T.V. or movies, or go on my phone or computer. I couldn’t exercise, read or do homework,” she said.
During this time Beckman experienced a chronic headache, was very irritable and was sensitive to sound.
She said, “My brother would talk to me in like an excited, but not yelling, voice and it hurt my head.”
After the three weeks were up, Beckman returned to school and stayed for half days. However, because of the difficulty of making up work and the fact that she was still experiencing symptoms, Beckman and her parents decided to take her out of school all together and do home hospital instead, where she did her schoolwork.
She missed most of the second semester of her sophomore year, and three weeks at the beginning of this year.
“Not going to school was probably the worst part about it because I felt really out of the loop and disconnected from a lot of my friends who were usually too busy to come by on a regular basis,” Beckman said. “It was pretty depressing not being able to see my friends.”
Beckman was cleared to participate in non-contact sports shortly before the 2012 school year and decided to try cross country. She had to stop though, because her symptoms returned.
Still not defeated, Beckman will ski again for Davis High this year—her first real comeback to sports. “People think I’m crazy,” she said, “but I’m looking forward to it.”
She recognizes that she will have to be careful though, because Post Concussion Syndrome can last for about a year. Her plan is to pursue her athletic career while making sure she doesn’t “overdo it.”
Her friend Deborah Harrington is happy that Beckman is finally able to go back to what she loves to do, but is concerned for her safety.
“It’s definitely a big risk, but that is something that I love about her. She doesn’t give up,” Harrington said. “Once she has her mind set on something, nothing can stop her. I know she’s going to do amazing this year.”
