Out of nowhere, all Tiffany sees is a ball coming straight towards her face. That’s all she remembered when she woke up in a hospital, with a doctor staring straight into her face. Her best friend, Dani, told her that she had passed out soon after getting hit. Tiffany was confused. How could she be in a hospital after getting hit in the head with a volleyball? It happens all the time?


Dr. Jones walked into the room. She explained to Tiffany that she had suffered a severe concussion, and that she would have to take some time to heal. Dr. Jones asked Dani to keep an eye on Tiffany and make sure she didn’t try to do anything that could make her concussion worse.


Dani stays with Tiffany and takes care of her so that she can rest. Tiffany’s symptoms haven’t gone away, so she still hasn’t gone back to her school. A week later, Tiffany is still in a lot of pain, so Tiffany’s mom calls the doctor and makes an appointment for the next day.


When Tiffany gets to the doctor, they have her take a concussion test, which she fails severely. Her physician, Dr. Grumm, told her that she probably wouldn’t be able to play volleyball, or any sport, for a while. As soon as tiffany heard that news she started crying, exclaiming that she couldn’t miss volleyball.


Two weeks later Tiffany went back to the doctor. When Dr. Grumm asked her how she was feeling, she lied and said that everything was fine and that she wasn’t having any symptoms. The doctor went by what Tiffany said, and told her she could go through progression, and gradually get back playing. That very next day at school she went to the athletic trainer and he did as the doctor had said and took her through progression. Every time Tiffany did any kind of athletic activity, her head would begin to hurt and she would become lightheaded. She wouldn’t tell the athletic trainer that though, she felt the sooner she got through progression, the sooner she’d be back on the court. After a week of progression the athletic trainer had cleared her to play again.


During the next practice Tiffany was playing her heart out. She didn’t tell anybody, but she had a major headache. She also felt as if she was going to throw up, but she decided it would be best if she kept it to herself. She practiced and practiced, acting as if nothing was wrong the entire time, when truly, the symptoms she was having were hurting her.


The team was practicing game situations, and Tiffany was on back row. A ball was served at her, but it was short, so she dove for it. Tiffany wasn’t the only one to dive for it though; Dani also dove for the same ball. Tiffany slammed her head right into Dani’s. Dani was perfectly fine, but when she looked at Tiffany she looked as if she were sleeping. The entire team ran to where Tiffany had been lying on the ground. She looked like an old, worn out rag doll. The coach checked Tiffany’s pulse, but there wasn’t one. She had Dani call 911 immediately. Not long after Dani had called, the ambulance had arrived.

Upon arriving to the hospital, Tiffany was sent straight to the ER. Her parents were contacted, and the nurses were doing all they could to wake Tiffany up. They had tried everything, but Tiffany still wasn’t waking up.