Cavin and Alek interview survivor-turned-thriver, Kimberly Archie, about her life and pioneering legal work on the front line of protecting child athletes.

(You can also hear this episode on YouTube, iTunes, Stitcher, and almost every other podcast network!)

A brain injury survivor herself, Kimberly Archie was all too familiar with what it means to endure and adapt to life with brain injury. But when she was brought in as a legal consultant for the infamous NFL “Concussion” lawsuit, she wasn’t expecting the coming diagnosis of stage 1 CTE in her son, following his tragic death in a motorcycle accident in 2014.

Her personal experiences with brain injury, her children’s experiences with youth sports, and her determination to help and educate others catapulted Kim to the front lines of protecting children in youth sports.

The grass roots aspects of this is really beginning to drive the new focus which is beyond the word “concussion”, beyond just the NFL case for the NFL players. True grass roots advocacy for the brain injury victims, because yes obviously people with CTE, we can’t call them survivors or thrivers, all are forever victims. It is up to us to be their voice.

Links from this episode:

• National Cheer Safety
• USA Sports Safety

• kids under the age of 14 should not be be exposed to repetitive brain trauma — Sign the petition: Save Your Brain

• See Kim and Cavin‘s “Teach, Believe, Inspire” awards by the Brain Injury Law Center.
• Contact Kim through her websites or on her twitter

 

Points of Interest:

• 2:00 – Cavin’s video about Speech Language Pathology
• 3:35 – Information about supporting the show
• 7:25 – Introduction of Kimberly Archie
• 11:05 – Kim’s involvement in children’s rights in sports
• 12:10 – Cheer-leading considered a sport?
• 15:00 – Who’s regulating children’s sports?
• 19:20 – Kim’s children, her son’s life and death, and following CTE diagnosis
• 27:20 – Putting the responsibility on children and coaches for recognizing TBI
• 29:00 – The failure of language surrounding brain injury
• 32:30 – Kim’s role in the NFL concussion case and other legal work
• 34:00 – Kim’s personal brain injury journey and learned lessons of adaptation
• 38:00 – Kim’s success with nutrition, sleep, and sensitivity
• 44:00 – We can’t do enough to protect kids and kids in sports
• 51:00 – Heading to “Brain Injury Awareness Day” in DC and goals
• 51:40 – #SaveYourBrain

 

See Kimberly Archie addressing sports safety on Fox News: