Replying to A thread about Sarah and the risks of the sport

Having read through the I ride for sarah thread, I'm getting the impression that alot of people don't realize the severity of brain injuries like this. This is the type of injury that people often don't recover from or could result in permanent brain damage. Given that doctors still haven't made a prognosis, it is not at all out of the question yet.

To Sarah's family, if you happen to read this, you should know that I and everyone in my family is thinking of you and we can only hope for a full and speedy recovery.

To NS, I think this situation brings up serious questions about the risks involved with the sport, particularily in the direction it is heading. This is not a broken arm or even a broken back. Although it is entirely possible (as we have seen with CR and Kevin Pierce) that Sarah will fully recover and return to the same self, it is also possible that she does not. She could struggle forever with motor function or vision, changes in personality or have short and long-term memory problems. She could be left a vegetable. She may never wake back up. I really do not know the likelyhood of any of these events or the details of Sarah's condition, but doctors are not saying much and that makes me worry. I think under these circumstances the question of if she'll ski in the olympics, or if she'll ever ski again period are of little consequence, at least until we know more.

And what if she does recover fully? Well great of course. But that doesn't mean it couldn't happen to somebody else. Infact with the sport heading to the olympics the risks are only getting bigger. It really is only a matter of time until someone else suffers a similar injury and doesn't come back. I'm by no means saying that we need to abolish the halfpipe or skiing altogether, I'm just saying that the legitimate possibilty of dropping into the pipe and never waking up is not to be taken lightly.

I grew up watching my older sister on the couch from injuries she'd gotten skiing. All during her teens she recieved a broken leg, collar bone, shoulder blade, ribs, dislocated shoulder [over a doezen times before surgury], at least one concussion before she broke and dislocated both of her hips overshooting a tabletop at Lake Louise to end her prospects of a future in the sport. Of course the news that she would never ski competitively again was devastating to her, but it was secondary to the news that she would be able to walk and hopefully even ski (which she did) and probably have children (which she also did 3 times). Yet despite all of this I still got into the sport. I knew very well the risks involved and I respected them and that respect kept me relatively safe as a got better and better and I went on to do some stuff I definately never would have expected when I was 10. Personally my only injuries were concussions (which I did have 6-8 of) and minor tweaks etc. I can tell you that most of my injuries came either at times of overconfidence, or when I was pushing myself for a competition. Both of these are preventable and should not happen, but when you ski 80+ days a year that leaves alot of opportunities for something to happen.

So do I think skiing should continue? Of course. Few things in life have ever brought me the same kind of joy that I knew from skiing, but I also think it's important that the next generation of skiers be well aware of what can go wrong on the hill. There is a life after skiing, and what happens skiing can change that life. The average age on this site is what 15? Life is long, at 22 I can tell you that I am glad I stepped back from the sport. I had a much greater risk of serious brain injury given my history of concussions and having known what it was like to live with post concussion symptoms, I wanted a future free from brain injury. My mind is who I am (litteraly) and it is all any of us have. I will never quit skiing entirely and I will never forget the great times I had while I was training seriously for a future in the sport, and I am very glad to have a future in front of me where I can choose to go skiing whenever I damn well feel like it