Robbed of her past, SRU's Kiger builds on solid soccer future
SLIPPERY ROCK — Dana Kiger sprints after the soccer ball, leaps into the air and heads it forward.
It's a typical play on a college soccer field. But Kiger is anything but typical.
Even though she desperately wants to be treated that way.
On the surface, the 18-year-old Slippery Rock University freshman looks like every other college student-athlete.
But Kiger doesn't remember being a kid.
She doesn't recall her first Christmas, her first pet, her first doll or her first crush.
For a while, she didn't even remember her first name.
As Kiger gives one of her teammates a high-five, then slings her backpack over her shoulder as she exits N. Kerr Thompson Stadium on a muggy late-summer night, its hard to believe her memories begin at 16.
History's endOn March 5, 2005, Kiger was playing soccer at Colerain High School near Cincinnati.She raced for the ball as she had thousands of times, went up to head it, then fell hard, slamming her head on the ground.When she awoke in the hospital hours later, her past was gone.Kiger didn't know who she was. Her parents were strangers. She could speak. She could write, but the meaning of the words were foreign to her.In every way that matters, she was born again.There was no swelling in the brain, so doctors believed her memory would return soon."No memories have come," Kiger said, nearly three years later.Kiger was stricken with the rarest form of amnesia — long-term memory loss caused by a moderate brain injury.In the months after her accident, she had to reacquaint herself with the friends she had forgotten, her parents, her likes and dislikes.She had to relearn simple vocabulary, such as what a parent was and what lettuce was."I didn't know what I liked to eat," Kiger said. "I could walk and talk and do all those sorts of things, but I couldn't remember anything."The day she was released from the hospital, her parents took Kiger to an all-you-can-eat buffet.There, they sampled everything the buffet had to offer. Kiger learned what the foods were and whether or not she enjoyed their taste.At school, she felt like the new kid, even though she was surrounded by friends who had known her all her life.As she recovered, her friends noticed the same old Dana emerging."They said I was pretty much the same person," Kiger said.
Same old soccer playerThrough it all, one thing stayed consistent in Kiger's life: Soccer.She was an honors student and a standout soccer player at Colerain before the accident. Quickly she regained her standing in both.After learning the rules of the sport again, Kiger found her natural ability intact."It took just five months after my accident before I began playing soccer again," Kiger said. "That was pretty neat."Her play got her noticed by Slippery Rock University women's soccer coach Noreen Herlihy.At the time, Herlihy had no idea what had happened to Kiger."When we saw Dana, we saw a healthy young player and a quality individual," Herlihy said. "When it did come up, it was past tense, bygones be bygones. It was an interesting story, but it didn't change my opinion of her. I still saw a quality student, a quality individual and a quality player."Kiger signed her national letter of intent in late June and was eager to begin her college career at The Rock.She made an immediate impact, earning a starting position as a defensive midfielder.What Kiger wants to earn now is some peace.
Center of attentionSince her story came out, Kiger has been besieged with interview requests."People ask me all the time if I miss my old life," she said. "I can't answer that. I like my life now, and I just want to move on."Kiger said she has done more than 20 interviews in the last six months.In June, she appeared on ABC's "Good Morning America" to tell her story.Now, though, she wants to move past her 15 minutes of fame.Through it all, her teammates have been a source of support.They know her story, but don't dwell on it. To them, she's just Dana, a defensive standout and the key to a successful season."They've just been really cool about it," Kiger said. "They've really been nice about it."Herlihy has noticed the same.To her, the accident is a nonissue."She doesn't want to be treated any differently," Herlihy said. "She's healthy now. It's like if someone tore their ACL three years ago. No one would keep bringing that up."
The futureKiger is majoring in exercise science-physical therapy at The Rock. She wants to help others recover from injuries when she graduates from The Rock in 2011.Kiger stresses she is just another Division II women's soccer player trying to help her team win."It's all about my future," she said. "Not the past."
