Speaking toThe New York TimesThursday, the 28-year-old gold medalist spoke about recovering from a brain hemorrhage, broken rib, and bruised lung following thefrightening wreckduring the race semifinals — which he doesn’t even remember.
“I’d rather tear every ligament in my body before I had a gnarly concussion,” Fields said. “This was my nightmare.”
Dr. Jonathan Finnoff — chief medical officer for the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee — tended to Fields after the crash and during his early care.
After the accident, the BMX star, who won gold at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, spent a week at the hospital in Tokyo, before flying back to Las Vegas for weeks of evaluation and therapy.
“The first thing that started to really come back was the physical side of it — my balance, my coordination,” Fields said. “Within three weeks I was able to balance on one leg just fine, and do tasks that would have been hard for me initially.”
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He said the focus now has been centered around processing speed and recall, noting during the interview that therapy consists of performing brain teasers that can get tiring. Fields explained that he still has blank spots in his memory from before and after the crash.
“I don’t feel 100% normal, but pretty close to normal when I’m fresh,” he explained. “But when I get tired, it reverts back to how I was early on.”
The athlete added, “The way I feel today is not how I want to feel for the rest of my life.”
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For now, Fields is taking it slow, sharing that he’s not even cleared to take an easy bike ride through his neighborhood, theTimesreports.
“We’re talking about the rest of my life here,” he said. “I can wait a few months, if it means not hurting my brain anymore.”
Though he’s not sure what’s next for his racing career, Fields revealed “Nobody close to me has any interest in me coming back.”
source: people.com
