Emma S. doesn't remember a time when sports weren't part of her life. She began playing soccer at age 3, tagging along to her older sister's practices. She took up basketball a year later and has also competed in volleyball, softball, and swimming.
Today, the ninth grader at Woodland Hills High School is a standout in basketball and soccer, on both school and club teams.
"I just always loved the competition — meeting new people, my teammates, my coaches, and that aspect of basketball and soccer," says Emma, 14.
Recurring concussions, however, threatened Emma's athletic career.
When she suffered a particularly severe concussion in March 2026, Emma and her family visited Michael "Micky" Collins, PhD, clinical and executive director of the UPMC Sports Medicine Concussion Program.
Dr. Collins prescribed a treatment plan that addressed the symptoms of Emma's most recent concussion along with lingering symptoms from previous ones.
After undergoing treatment, Emma is back playing soccer and basketball again. She says she feels like a different player and person.
"We love Dr. Collins," says Ashley, Emma's mother. "We forever will be indebted to him. He is one of the most amazing human beings — not only just for getting her back, but I think it's important to have a physician that you can have that trusting relationship with."
'Not Her Head Again'
Before March 2026, Emma had suffered four concussions in about a two-year span. One had happened just two months before, in January.
Emma saw the same provider for each of her prior concussions. The specialist recommended rest, made allowances for Emma's school, and prescribed B vitamins and magnesium.
"I had to be out of sports and not be able to play anything, but the recovery wasn't hard," Emma says. "It was just rest, be in a quiet room, and everything. I love sleeping, so I was fine with the resting part. But it wasn't hard — I didn't have to do anything."
Cleared for competition after her January concussion, Emma was playing in an AAU basketball tournament. Late in her third game, she went up for a layup and was fouled.
“She came down and landed right on her head," Ashley says. "I heard the ‘thump.’ It was so loud. Tessa, her sister, and I were sitting on the side of the court, and I was like, ‘Oh my god, not her head again.’”
Emma lost consciousness for over a minute, Ashley says, then woke up dazed. While waiting for an ambulance to arrive, Emma had two impact seizures, convulsions that happen right after a head injury.
"It was the scariest day of my life," Ashley says. "I went from thinking everything from 'Her sports career is over' to thinking, 'Oh my god, is she going to be the same person?'"
Emma says her last memory of the incident is going up for the shot. She doesn't remember having impact seizures.
"I think that's the scariest part — not remembering it and hearing about it from other people," she says.
The ambulance brought Emma to the emergency department at UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. Imaging showed that Emma didn't have a brain bleed but did have another concussion. The team at UPMC Children's recommended that Emma follow up with her typical concussion provider.
'Am I Ever Going to Be Who I Used to Be?'
Emma says she noticed a huge difference in her experience after the March 2026 concussion. While she had physical symptoms like severe headaches, nausea, and dizziness, she felt the biggest impact mentally.
Ashley says her daughter is normally a very outgoing, bubbly person. But after the March concussion, she became more withdrawn.
"I just felt like I was a whole different person," Emma says. "All my friends realized I wasn't myself. My coaches, my teachers, they all realized.
"I just felt so different — I was like, 'Who am I? If I'm not who I used to be, am I ever going to be who I used to be?'"
When Emma and Ashley visited her normal concussion specialist, he recommended the same treatment path as for Emma's previous concussions.
"I was like, 'I cannot keep on this same pattern. We can't keep doing this,'" Ashley says.
"(They said), 'There's no magical number to say that this is too many.' But I was like, 'This one knocked her unconscious. What are we doing?'"
Realizing something needed to change, Ashley contacted the UPMC Sports Medicine Concussion Program. She was able to get Emma an appointment with Dr. Collins and his team right away.
'The Most Comprehensive History and Physical'
Emma and Ashley visited Dr. Collins soon after her concussion. It didn't take long for them to notice a difference in the treatment approach.
Unlike Emma's previous provider, Dr. Collins didn't recommend rest. In fact, he said she should do the opposite — experience loud environments. He told her to take tests and do schoolwork alongside her classmates and prohibited napping.
"I was definitely doubting what he was saying at first," Emma says. "He was like, 'Go where you're not comfortable. Do what you're not comfortable with. Go in loud environments.' I'm like, 'What is this guy talking about?'"
Those doubts faded as the appointment continued.
Dr. Collins had Emma take an ImPACT test, a concussion management test developed at UPMC that evaluates memory, reaction time, and processing. She hadn't taken an ImPACT test before. He also had her meet with other members of the UPMC concussion management team, including vestibular and exertion specialists.
"I loved how they listened to me and would not just talk over me or tell me how I was supposed to feel," Emma says. "I got to tell them how I felt and got good actual advice and feedback."
Dr. Collins also identified that Emma was experiencing lingering symptoms from previous concussions. For example, Emma had been struggling with nausea and other digestive issues for a long time. She'd also been suffering from anxiety.
“We were there for three and a half hours," Ashley says of the visit. "They went through everything. It was the most comprehensive history and physical."
Emma bonded with Dr. Collins over basketball, as his three daughters played the sport. She told him that her goal was to return to competition after concussion recovery.
Ashley, on the other hand, had concerns. She asked Dr. Collins if it would be better if she pursued non-contact sports instead.
"He said, ‘Do you trust me that I can get her back to normal? That’s the key; we need to reset her nervous system and get her back to normal, so that every little bump does not leave her concussed,'" Ashley recalls. "He said, ‘I can do it if you trust me, and you trust that she’ll work hard.’”
'My Dream Can Still Continue'
Following Dr. Collins' recommendations, Emma immediately increased her activity level. She began exertion and vestibular (balance) therapy. In addition to inpatient therapy, she received at-home exercises.
She also got up every morning before school to run, and she resumed basketball and soccer practices — except for contact drills. She loved being back in the gym or on the field pretty much every day. When she experienced headaches at therapy, her team had her walk on the treadmill, which helped.
"(The treatment) helped to drop my dizziness and headaches a lot," Emma says. "All of the drills and everything seemed legit, like they knew what they were talking about."'
Emma also went on an anti-anxiety medication and began talking to a mental health specialist.
At first, Emma says she didn't think she was improving as much as she wanted. However, when Dr. Collins had her retake the ImPACT test three weeks into treatment, her scores improved greatly.
"After that, I started giving myself more credit for everything I'd done," she says. "I started feeling a lot better."
Little by little, Emma started feeling more like herself.
"It definitely took time, but I started feeling more myself about a week after seeing the test scores," she says.
On May 1 — about six weeks after Emma's treatment began — Dr. Collins fully cleared her for competition.
"I tried really hard not to cry; I was really, really happy," Emma says. "I was just thinking about everything that happened and how incredible it was that I overcame it, and how my dream can still continue."
By May 2, Emma was playing in a club soccer tournament in Ohio. Although she admits to feeling some nerves, she was also excited to get back on the field.
"Being around my team just made me feel so much better," she says.
'I Want to Help Every Other Person'
Emma is now back to playing basketball and soccer full-time. She recently began ninth grade and is playing varsity soccer. She expects to play varsity basketball in the winter.
Ashley was a "nervous wreck" in Emma's first game back from her concussion. However, she noticed that Emma looked like a completely different player.
"Previously, she was always all over the ground," Ashley says. "It became like a joke, like, ‘How many times is Emma going to be on the ground today?’ Any little hit or little contact would send her flying.
"It was the first game where I was like, ‘Oh my god, she’s staying on her feet. She’s taking these hits, and she’s not going flying.’”
That ability to stay upright has remained. Ashley credits the work of Dr. Collins and his team for helping Emma's balance and steadiness.
For her part, Emma says she feels "100% better."
"I feel like a different person, and I'm stronger," she says. "My headspace is a lot better, and so is my confidence."
Emma's school performance has also improved, which Ashley attributes to her no longer feeling brain fog and other post-concussion symptoms.
Emma now wants to pay her concussion recovery story forward. The family recently filed paperwork to start a nonprofit to provide access to baseline ImPACT testing for student-athletes. They also hope to raise awareness for proper concussion recovery.
"I want to impact every other person that has gone through a concussion or injury," Emma says. "I want to use this injury not as a scary part of my life, but as a proud part. I overcame it, and I want to help every other person get through stuff like that."
