While in college, many students tend to struggle with their mental and sometimes physical health. There are many responsibilities and on top of it all it is important to have extracurriculars that students can enjoy.
Except what happens when a health problem hits and everything gets turned around?
Austin Peay State University senior and goalkeeper, Katie Bahn, understands this all too well and in honor of student athlete mental health week being Oct.6-12 APSU’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee interviewed Bahn on Oct. 7th, so students could hear her story.
On Thanksgiving of 2023, Bahn had woken up and had typical fever symptoms. She did not think anything of it—just thought it was an average cold. The next day however was one of the days where she realized something was wrong.
“I woke in the morning to use the bathroom and I just walked straight into the wall,” said Bahn. “I just kind of shrugged it off and went throughout my day…I had a weird sense of calmness that was kind of concerning but just shrugged it off…a few days later my symptoms had gotten worse. I got in my car to go pick up my roommate from the airport and got a sense of dizziness and brain fog and misjudged everything and ran off the road hitting a curb…I told my parents the symptoms I was having and later that night I fell in the shower and found myself going to urgent care.”
As Bahn’s symptoms worsened, she lost the ability to do basic tasks such as speaking, walking, etc. Doctors eventually diagnosed her with vestibular neuritis—an inflammation of the eighth cranial nerve.
Bahn spent months in physical therapy and with doctors getting better. In the summer of 2024, after lots of training and practice, she was able to return to soccer. “Getting used to it [soccer] was the best thing for me.” Bahn says.
Bahn was asked for any other feedback she wanted to add and her response was: “If I had any doubts that God was real, now every single one of those doubts had gone. Even when I had felt very alone behind closed doors I knew God was there.” All throughout her journey her faith was very important to her.
Bahn’s story more in depth can be found https://www.athleteconfidential.com/post/an-unexpected-setback?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAab407AGCeqTJs-Nfco7Ac04SrYXzSbRpYlbdTKujs5Kp8TVEz17DDeQRa0_aem_7OoJjS_wTGU5pHOcMDBe5Q and to keep up with Bahn can be found on her Instagram page https://www.instagram.com/ktbahn/?hl=en .
