This week on the Heads 'N Tales podcast we hear from founder and editor-in-chief of Purpose 2 Play, Kim Constantinesco. Purpose 2 Play is a sports blog that showcases powerful and inspiring sports stories. My story was recently featured on her website and in talking to Kim, I learned about her own amazing story of perseverance. Kim lives in Colorado and in 2011 she suffered a severe neck injury while snowboarding at the Keystone Resort with some of her friends. It snowed 8 inches the night before, and Kim and her friends hiked into the back bowl where they built a jump with avalanche shovels. She had done some flips off this jumps a few times before a friend of a friend decided to modify the lip of the jump. Kim was the first to attempt a backflip after the modifications were made and as she was about to go airborne, the new lip crumbled and she landed on her head. Photo provided by Kim Constantinesco Kim had numbness in her arm immediately after the injury, but was able to get back down the mountain under her own power. Her shoulder was most symptomatic after the accident, but after countless X-rays, cortisone shots and physical therapy appointments Kim's pain couldn't be relieved. Kim then decided to switch to a new doctor, who started looking at her neck. This doctor discovered herniated discs in c5 c6. In an attempt to avoid surgery she tried spine injections and once again found no relief. Eventually Kim needed an anterior discectomy fusion, which is the same surgery that Peyton Manning underwent. During this surgery, the doctor discovered Kim had chipped a piece of her vertebrae in addition to her herniated disks. The surgery required the removal of the damaged discs and replacing them with cadaver bone. To fuse the bones the surgeon had to insert a metal plate and four screws. Kim was then forced to wear a c-collar after surgery for 12 weeks. This proved to be a difficult task because she has always had a hard time sitting still. This experience eventually helped break the ice with Peyton Manning while Kim was covering the Denver Broncos.
