Former figure skater talks about concussion impact
‘I want to inspire people to know that they are not alone’
It’s tale of beauty battling her brain.
Former B.C. figure skater Riley Sawyer, 20, a model who has graced the pages of the Vancouver Sun as a top SUNshine Girl for the past two years, opened recently up about her battle with multiple concussions — at least 15 to date.
She is now working with a new mental health program called Head1st that helps those dealing with mental issues stemming from their trauma.
“I want to inspire people to know that they are not alone. They are not the only ones who feel like I did,“said Sawyer. “Because I heard so much about the physical health of, but never the mental health.”
As a young teenager, Sawyer was outgoing, and her aunt Teena Sawyer, a figure skating coach, took an interest in her niece and became a big influence in her life motivating her to take up figure skating at 13 years old.
“Yes, my aunt was a crazy good figure skater. She was a coach out of the Whitby figure skating club,” said Sawyer.
But at that same time — as far as she can remember — she incurred her first concussion skating and it has crept in and become part of her life, sometimes leaving her in a dark place.
She also now suffers from shortterm memory loss.
Like any teen, she enjoyed sports like ringette and soccer. As an athlete, she suffered bumps and lumps along the way.
“The worst I ever got was playing ringette in high school in a mixed class,” said Sawyer. “All I remember is this big guy just came at me full steam and crashed into me. I went hard to the gym floor, but I got back up.”
That’s what most athletes did before recent research: they toughed it out. But after the ringette episode, Sawyer knew something was wrong.
She figures her get-up-andgo, no-quit attitude of competing hard has led to as many as 15 concussions.
Even though she has since embarked on a safer career in modelling, Sawyer said by the end of the day, she just wants to curl up in a ball with her little service dog Baby — a 12-yearold Chihuahua-pomeranian mix.
Then she recently stumbled upon a program on Instagram called Head1st.
It is a concussion awareness program put together by newfound friend Cody Oehm, 27, who hails from Owen Sound.
The program helps let those dealing with concussions know they are not alone and can look beyond the dark room, depression, anxiety and even suicidal thoughts.
Oehm said he was diagnosed and hospitalized with three concussions while playing competitive hockey with the Walkerton Hawks in the Ontario C league at the age of 20.
“I was hospitalized and it lead to a bunch of physical and mental health issues,” said Oehm. “The underlying issues lead to inflammation on my brain that cut off the production of hormones.” Oehm said he was an outgoing kid, but he started shying away from everything and within a few months he was “in a dark place with suicidal thoughts” and dealing with “pretty deep anxiety.”
By 24, he was working with an endocronologist who put him on hormone replacement therapy, which made him better within a four to six weeks.
“The mission of Head1st is to make the world aware of the issue of the impact concussions can have on hormones and mental health,” said Oehm.
After sharing his experiences on Facebook, his inbox was flooded with thousands of messages from people with similar stories.
“I realized this was more common than originally thought,” said Oehm. “And about 20 per cent of the people affected have some sort of pituitary dysfunction after the fact.”
BACK ON THE ICE
Sawyer has now jumped on board to start researching her own health with the help of Head1st to sort out her myriad issues.
Recently, Sawyer met up with her former figure skating coach Ryan Shollert at Centennial Recreation Centre in Scarborough and laced up her blades to confront her demons.
Both hit the fresh sheet of ice with Shollert getting Sawyer to limber up first, knowing full well she might be a bit rusty — like her skates — after not being on the ice for a few years.
Sawyer glided into some easy moves like corkscrews and camel spins, smiling from earto-ear with the minor accomplishments.
Her confidence soared.
But at the end of the 30-minute session, as she pulled off her furry white headband drank some water bottle, somewhat winded, she confided Shollert noticed she was struggling a bit and kept her calm and focused.
“I thought I was going to puke out there,” said Sawyer. “But I didn’t tell him that”
Some may think it is easy to get in front of the camera and “Vogue,” yet at the end of the day, it is exhausting, she said.
After her recent SUNshine Girl shoot and video interview she said she went home and slept really well and was refreshed in the morning.
She hates not competing and loves letting her mind and brain flow freely even though it may be a bit foggy some days, but she has found new optimism by putting her head first.