Jim McMahon

Jim McMahon was known as the rock star mentality and quarterback of the Chicago Bears, now he is just a retired football player with dementia. After suffering many concussions and continuing to play McMahons short term memory is gone. Within 10 minutes he forgets what he was doing. According to a documentary by ESPN McMahon will walk into a kitchen for a drink and forget what he was doing, all of this just for a game. Concussions had a huge impact on his career, but he continued to play through it, because that was what he thought was normal. After receiving a huge blow to the head against the Detroit Lions McMahon was walked off the field by trainers, at halftime he was assessed by the team doctor. When the 3rd quarter came around McMahon was back out there playing with a concussion. Not realizing the risk of what could happen McMahon took several more blows to the head. The Trainer when asked about his injury said, "He had a concussion, but it cleared by halftime" Chicago Tribune October 12, 1988. It is impossible for a concussion to clear up in less than an hour. The awareness of concussions has improved, and there are many more methods of preventing a player from continuing with a concussion, but there is a lot of room for improvement. Many people are very cautious about playing with concussions, but many kids and athletes don’t know the risk of playing with a concussion and we need to share it.