Locally Made Docuseries of Concussion Awareness Released for Rowan's Law Day

In honour of Rowan’s Law Day to raise concussion awareness, local man Ryan Sutton and project leader Seth Mendelsohn have released a docuseries, ‘Recognize, Remove, Manage, Prevent’ for Peterborough schools and the general public on Wednesday.

Erica Evans, Trent University women’s field lacrosse head coach (pictured) is one of several Peterborough figures featured in the docuseries. Photo courtesy of PACA.

Rowan’s Law Day is named after Rowan Stringer, a 17-year-old rugby player who died in May 2013 from sustaining multiple head injuries.

The docuseries was created just under two years ago where the title focuses on four key pillars of a concussion. All Peterborough schools within the Catholic and public school boards are It was created by Peterborough Athletics Concussion Awareness (PACA).

It is directed toward parents with children in sports, coaches, healthcare providers and anyone associated with youth sports.

The docuseries is focused on the Peterborough area with testimonials from local athletes, coaches and healthcare professionals. However, it is relevant to anyone involved in youth sport.

Mendelsohn and Sutton were former youth athletes. Both had suffered concussions at young ages and had to cope with their injuries growing up.

“We started to learn that although we both sustained concussions, both in high school, both from sports, the way they both presented each other was very different,” said Sutton. “Concussions are all unique to each person who sustains so that’s another thing that we always try and highlight. Just because someone sustained it in one way and maybe they recovered very quick, it doesn’t mean it’s always going to be like that for everybody.”

They created the docuseries roughly two years ago to provide free, accessible educational and awareness resources to understand how to recognize a concussion, what to do if you suspect one has occurred, how to manage its symptoms and ways to prevention.

Sutton has had eight concussions with five before the age of 20 and three in high school.

“As a young person going through the injury, you don’t really understand what’s fully happening,” he explained. “You don’t grasp the full scope of the injury itself and it’s really hard to navigate through social situations when you’re not feeling like yourself, you’re not feeling like being capable of being there even though you look like you’re able to be there.”

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