Information From Unexpected Sources

BY SCOTT MORGANROTH

Nowadays, everyone uses Social Media for specific purposes.

There are certain ones that I get more out of than others.

I’ve had an extraordinary amount of success using Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

When I started working with Peter Wein at the Wei Network, I leaned heavily on LinkedIn to get guests for the Sports Exchange. The professional contacts that I’ve made on LinkedIn have been amazing and I just found out about it about 12 years ago. LinkedIn has been helpful meeting other Media Relations Directors and I’ve covered Sporting Events around the country.

Twitter has been an asset enabling me to post stories and share broadcasts from the South Florida Tribune. I’ve also landed some great guests for my shows. To date, I’ve had 18,000 tweets.

Finally, there is Facebook. I initially went in there to keep in touch with family, friends from my childhood and longtime colleagues around the country. I’ve actually visited some longtime friends and colleagues when I have been in there areas.

As time progressed, I’ve been able to land guests for my broadcasts by using Messenger. This is something that I never visualized but it’s been an unexpected asset. Now I’m using Facebook to stream my shows.

Now that I’ve discovered how valuable this is, I’ve tried to keep my friends total above 4,990. 

You never know who you’re going to meet and what you can learn when it comes to dealing with other people’s hardships.

I have one friend that is dealing with extensive head trauma named Kelly Gautreaux Lindberg. I wished her prayers and told her that I sympathize what she’s going through.

A few months ago, I suffered my first major concussion when an old water bottle leaked and I took a nasty fall in my house. I was out for a couple seconds but felt wobbly. Thankfully, my wife Candy, who was stunned at the nature of the fall was home, but she wasn’t sure how to help me. I got up and she helped me get into bed.

The nature of that fall resulted in increased headaches, sensitivity to too much sound as well as occasional dizzy spells. 

Being a person that likes to drive, this doesn’t happen as much because I experience headaches more often and struggle after 15-30 minutes. Things are so bad with the sound that I turn off the commercials when I’m watching my television shows.

A few days after my fall, the problems continued to persist and as a result, My wife and in-laws finally convinced me to go to the hospital to get checked out. The doctors officially diagnosed what we already knew and that I did have a bad concussion.

Being in Sports Media, I enjoy covering Sporting Events and now that’s been compromised because of my condition as most of the venues are more than 30 minutes away. Unless I take my wife to an event to take photos, then I don’t go.

I did go to my family doctor and told him about my concussion diagnosis 30 days after the injury. The doctors at the hospital told me the only way to get through this was to stay off the road and rest. I did just that.

After I saw my family doctor, I decided to go to a networking event at the West Palm Beach Airport Hilton. It took 30 minutes from that appointment to experience my second concussion as after I parked my vehicle, I didn’t see a curb and took a nasty fall and hit my head badly into the concrete. 

Another guy who was attending the event was with me and helped me get back on my feet. This guy stayed with me until I got my bearings straight.

I did manage to get through this event and got some things accomplished. 

I called my wife and explained to her what had happened. 

In her cool demeanor, we talked and I told her how frustrated I was by what happened. She told me to contact her when I got home and has done the majority of the major driving.

I wasn’t going back to the hospital. This time, I knew what was wrong. 

Seeing Kelly’s challenges made me understand what she was going through.

As I was communicating with her, former football player QB Coach Bill Howe saw my response to Kelly and offered his support. He’s had numerous concussion issues so he knew what I was going through.

Bill told me that I never healed from the first one and have what’s called “Second Impact Syndrome or SIS.” My brain never had time to heal before taking another concussion. Bill was definitely right.

Having covered sports for 42 years, I’ve seen athletes that have had concussions. But until you experience these injuries, these are nothing to take lightly. I’m finding that out the hard way. I’m extremely tentative when I walk and a bit more nervous when I drive. 

Driving has always been my source of meditation and that’s been compromised. 

To date, there is some dizziness and I’m sensitive towards darkness and light. Headaches are the norm and I’m frustrated I have to deal with them. But I’m learning how to be more patient.

I’ve been doing more broadcasts but do miss going to Sporting Events. 

I’ll be going back in time but I have to pick my spots and cut back. 

Despite gas prices going up, I do miss driving. If I go on a long trip, then My wife goes with me if I have to relinquish the wheel. By no means, do I want to get hurt or injure anyone else. My drives are limited to 30-45 minute increments when going to local restaurants.

We all know that Social Media is here to stay. You get out of it what you can.

But if there is one thing that I’ve learned when I think of Kelly and Coach Bill Howe, with Social Media, at least you can sympathize and learn from an unexpected source that wasn’t as predominant 20 years ago. 

I’m very thankful to coming in contact with Kelly and Coach Bill. They have helped me gain a better understanding of the seriousness of head injuries by their experiences to go along with what I’ve seen in Sports Media with the athletes that I cover.

I’ll definitely remember the words, “Second Impact Syndrome” because I didn’t hear these words from a doctor and they have much more meaning coming rom Coach Bill Howe.

The Information came from an Unexpected Source.

Scott Morganroth can be reached at southfloridatribune@gmail.com.

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