UNDERSTANDING PTSD
“I think when you hear the term ‘PTSD’, you immediately think of people who have been in Iraq or Afghanistan and the horrific things they have dealt with,” says Arun Gray. “But everyone’s tolerance to trauma is different.”
Gray, a sports therapist, was 21 when one of his closest friends collapsed while they were playing football. A trained first aider, he performed CPR on his friend for 40 minutes before an ambulance arrived.
“It all happened so quickly, so it wasn’t until afterwards when it all sunk in,” he says. “A few hours later, I found out that Craig had passed away after suffering a cardiac arrest. He was just 18 years old at the time. I was 21.
“A condition once believed to affect only those who had fought on the frontline, today there is greater awareness that trauma can take different forms”
“When he collapsed, he suffered a large cut to his head, which bled a lot. The main issue I remember afterwards was recalling the smell. I had a shower as soon as I got home a couple of hours later, and remember washing over and over again to get the blood off of my hands and to get rid
