United by their fallen teammate

September 15, 2011

Tragedy has a way of uniting a group of people.
The Bishop’s Gaiters football team is finding this out the hard way as they made the twelve-hour bus trip to Sackville, New Brunswick yesterday to get set for their clash with the Mount Allison Mounties tomorrow afternoon.
A cloud hung over the Gaiters’ practices all week as they awaited updates regarding their teammate Kevin Kwasny’s condition.
A fourth-year defensive end from Winnipeg, Kwasny began showing concussion symptoms in the locker room during halftime of last weekend’s game versus Concordia. When his condition did not improve, he was rushed to the nearby CHUS where it was revealed he was suffering from a subdural hematoma (essentially a collection of blood around the brain), an injury suffered during the game that required emergency surgery.
The last word out of the Sherbrooke hospital is that the 21-year-old is still in a medically induced coma and remains in stable but critical condition. As per the wishes of his family, further updates regarding his condition have remained confidential.
There are no right ways of dealing with situations of this nature. Some cry, others become quiet, some need to talk about it, others need to find distractions. While the Gaiters went about their business this week, and have said all the right things internally and to the media — there is no way of knowing how this situation will manifest itself on the field.

Please see Friday's Record for the complete story.