Waiver for Concussion

My DS received a medical disqualification from DODMERB due to a concussion in his sophomore year. (He got it playing soccer.) He was treated appropriately and returned to all normal activities and sports with no residual effects. Assuming he is otherwise competitive, is this type of medical "issue" routinely waived? Given all of the athletes at Navy, I would have to assume it is but would be grateful for any insight.

Hey how's it goin.

I'm in a similar situation as your son (got hit by a car in 8th grade while running and got a concussion amongst some other injuries) but applying to the CGA. DODMERB requested additional information (medical records etc.) and I sent them inpatient records. They then again requested post accident concussion analyzation (is that a word?) records from Methodist CrC. I'm currently in the process of providing them with records indicating that I'm far away and clear of any concussion symptoms-- and I'd encourage your son to do the same.

Basically what the DoDMERB is looking for is that your son has no lingering or permenant effects of his soccer incident. Depending on where you live, you can visit a sports concussion center and take a impact test. If your son had any testing around the time of his concussion, a higher impact score now (compared to back then) would be a very positive sign of no lingering effects. If your son didn't have any impact testing back then, a high impact score now would be great as well because it compares your scores to unconcussed healthy people in your sons age group.

Second to Last, I'd contact Mr. Mullen of DoMerb, he's a great guy who sorta speeds up the process a little bit and puts a face to the department. lawrence.e.mullen.civ@mail.mil

Just tell him your situation and he'll take care of you.

Lastly, I just want to remind you to be careful what you send. For example an extra sheet got caught in my inpatient records from something I said when I was in the fourth grade indication a possible allergic reaction to bananas. Now, 8 years later Im going to have to have an IgE allergen test quant or semi quant for bananas. Definitely send things fully and completely that they ask for, but just be careful what you send.

sorry I didn't really answer your question, but perhaps it's not to late to have them rescind the DQ by providing a bit of extra info.

Wishing you and your son nothing but the best in the application process

Happy holidays!

Matty, thanks for the info. We have not received any follow up requests from Navy or DODMERB. They just told us they would initiate the waiver process on their own if he is competitive. Right now we are waiting to see if he'll get a nomination, so we need to see how that goes first, I guess. Good luck with the CGA and the waiver!

Oh -- gotcha. That's definitely better than them giving you a straight up DQ. Just hang in there for a little bit longer, hopefully you'll get nothing but good news.

nosaj said:

Matty, thanks for the info. We have not received any follow up requests from Navy or DODMERB. They just told us they would initiate the waiver process on their own if he is competitive. Right now we are waiting to see if he'll get a nomination, so we need to see how that goes first, I guess. Good luck with the CGA and the waiver!

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You might want to consider taking the proactive approach and try to speed up any follow up requests. If you can get a copy of the medical records at no fee, then get a copy for yourself and have them ready to submit. Some medical offices/facilities take 1-2 weeks to process medical record requests, plus there is mailing time. I'd have anything related to the concussion that you can anticipate they might want ready to go in case it is needed. The waiver process can take time. It won't be submitted for review until they have all the info so anything you can do to help reduce wait time might be to your advantage.

You might want to consider taking the proactive approach and try to speed up any follow up requests. If you can get a copy of the medical records at no fee, then get a copy for yourself and have them ready to submit. Some medical offices/facilities take 1-2 weeks to process medical record requests, plus there is mailing time. I'd have anything related to the concussion that you can anticipate they might want ready to go in case it is needed. The waiver process can take time. It won't be submitted for review until they have all the info so anything you can do to help reduce wait time might be to your advantage.

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Spot on advice!

Mr. Mullen is a great person. Met him at a state conference and he works his best to help every candidate. Send copies of all medical records and post injury records to DoDmerb to speed up the process.

Concussion

I could have written this question. Verbatim. My son had the same, but two concussions a year apart. When we received an initial request from DoDMerb for more info on a hand injury, they said he failed the physical for his concussions. At that point we had his pediatrician write a letter of explanation for concussions and sent it along with the hand injury info. We received a second letter saying hand issue was taken care of but that the concussion symptoms still prevented him from passing DoDMerb, but that if USNA offered him spot they would initiate the waiver process. We heard from our senator on Dec 12 that navy had accepted him. On the 15 we received the waiver in the mail. We did nothing else but send that one doctors note saying how many times he saw him, what his symptoms were, and that he had been symptom free for 1.5 years and was cleared for all activity. Good luck! It can happen!!