Hey, I have been putting off my what the hell happened to me entry just as I put off dealing with my head injury. lol I don't even know where to begin but I'll start with my tbi. It was the early morning (1-2 am) of a Saturday in November 2000 and I was planning to go to a college football game. Anyway, the “brawl of the wild” is a rivalry between MSU Bobcats and UM Grizzlies, my first college (Go Griz!!). Well I had already dropped out and was back to visit friends and catch the game. I had worked security for the Griz while attending UM, and Washington-Grizzly Stadium is without a doubt my favorite place in the world on game day. I went out to the bars with a group of friends and this is a college town so the bar scene is crazy but on the weekend of this game it is unreal.
Anyway, I witnessed 3 females stand up on a table and start cheering for the bobcats. The Griz fans didn't like that and began yelling and cussing at them, some were throwing things, others were chanting back Griz stuff. Then one big guy, 250 pounds to be exact, I thought he was a bouncer, he began assaulting one of the girls, much to the crowds delight. I couldn't believe what i was seeing. So I had to intervene. I approached the guy and asked him to let the girl go and leave her alone. He did and asked me if I wanted to fight. I replied no I don’t want to fight you, this girl is wasted and needs to go, so as soon as I saw the drunken girls friends get her out of harms way, I turned around and walked away. The guy attacked me and we got into what was called by the police a bar fight, even though I never threw one punch and was only defending myself as we were wrestling on the ground.
The bouncers finally did their job and broke this up but threw me outside where this guy came up on me with a group of his buddies. They all wanted me beat down but another group of big guys stepped in and things looked to be resolved. Then the punk ran up on me and sucker punched me so hard my feet left the ground. He outweighed me by almost 100 pounds. My head hit the street first as I flew off the curb onto the concrete. My head fractured on impact and split open gushing blood out, witnesses said it sounded like a bunch of egg shells breaking. I was done for, my eyes were rolling into the back of my head and I was going into convulsions. If that wasn't enough this guy jumped on top of me and pounded on me more until the other big guys stepped in and chased him down.
My life as I knew it ended on the street that night. I can't explain what everything was like after that but I honestly thought I was going to die. The er and my neurosurgeon were the only ones that really seemed to know my life was changed and how near death I was. Once I was released my other doctors treated me like shit so I just gave up on getting help from them. I self medicated myself for awhile. I returned to working construction by the middle of January so it was less than two months after my tbi, but for all intents and purposes I would never be the same.
I was living a reckless life for awhile and then something happened that woke my up and I enrolled back in college. I didn’t think I could do it, but I did better than my wildest dreams and now I'm a senior. Well that’s my story, it may sound like I got my ass kicked but I was never in a fight and was only sucker punched by a big coward, the kind that would rough up a girl.
Edited by Griz1 on 17-02-2010 23:11
Hey Griz, welcome aboard. No, you're not the only one that thinks what that guy did is wrong. Just hitting women is too wrong in too many ways. But some men have no balls to take a man on, one on one, nor do they have the brains to be a real man.
Hi Griz,
I think that is an amazing story In spite of what you might think of it. The sad truth is people can be completely different while they drink --- The fact is that you took the time to share your story --- Congrats on going back to school also.
I believe that these things do happen more than our blinding eyes know about.
Do you feel better after sharing? I want your feedback on this forum.
Somethings we do for good turns out bad for us, but the results of learning to get what you had is an priceless experience. Do you think you would have done so well in school the 2nd time around without your TBI?
Welcome aboard!
The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet. - Aristotle
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