Thank you for donating in memory of Jimmy Spencer
This Award was created in memory of James Nathaniel Spencer (June 8, 1981 – October 1, 2016).
Jimmy Spencer
Jim was an exuberant, robust, high-spirited child and young man who embraced his love of sport, music and writing since early childhood. He had an extraordinary natural talent for BMX tricks, building tracks and training on them, BMX backflips and tricks on trampoline, and into the local lake. This led him into the sport of motocross where he flourished. The sport was a perfect fit for his fearless, determined competitive personality combined with tremendous physical attributes and fitness as well as his ability to implement the limitless technical demands of both indoor and outdoors racing. He rose to fame in his career, competed in and trained both in Canada and the US as an amateur and sponsored professional athlete. As a musician, he spent endless hours playing guitar and drums, writing songs and poetry, and at one point developed his own studio for recording other artists.
When Jim was 10 years of age he suffered a basal skull fracture leading to coma. In those early days there was not a lot of information or support in and around returning to activity or school. During Jim’s career he experienced more concussions where symptoms were mismanaged for a number of years. Since 2010 Jim started to really notice the severity of symptoms but alas he did not have baseline information that would give him and his support network the guidance needed or pertinent critical reference evidence to make the best decisions that may have led to a deeper understanding of the ramifications of brain injury and how to navigate this journey.
Jim died by suicide in October of 2016. He is deeply missed by his 2 daughters Shyanna Belle Spencer and Destiny Rain Spencer, his family of origin, and his friends and colleagues. He always wanted to, and did, help others throughout his life. This Award will allow him to continue doing so, with the 3D Motion Object Tracking concussion research at UVic.
Concussion Research
Your donation will help fund awards given to graduate students in the UVic Concussion Lab doing research relating to 3D Motion Object Tracking (3D-MOT): A Tool for Cognitive Recovery Post-Concussion.
Concussions result from any blow to the head, face, neck or to the body that causes a sudden shaking or jarring of the brain inside the skull. Concussions can affect how individuals think and may cause a variety of symptoms (e.g., headaches, dizziness, poor balance). Although there are many tools available for managing concussion, most concussion management programs are not evidence-based and have little to no research to help support their use. As a result, often concussions are mismanaged. Research on the use of multiple object tracking (MOT) and related neuropsychological tests before and/or after a concussion will help create comprehensive evidence-based concussion management programs.
The University of Victoria Concussion Lab is interested in learning more about how children, adolescents and adults recover after a concussion. The purpose of this research is to examine how useful multiple object tracking and related cognitive tasks are in assisting recovery following a concussion in children, adolescents, and adults. To achieve this, testing will be conducted with individuals without concussions and compare them to those who suffer a concussion. There is limited research on recovery techniques following concussions; the researchers hope to provide empirical evidence for a recovery tool to help all those who suffer concussions.
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