Tourette syndrome (TS) is a neurological disorder characterized by sudden, repetitive, rapid, and unwanted movements or vocal sounds called tics. TS is one of a group of disorders of the developing nervous system called tic disorders.
Rising Giants star Quincy Roche embraces Tourette’s reality
Childhood can be a painful time in a boy’s life when he is perceived as different, and is subjected to mocking cruelty from classmates and peers.
When Tourette’s syndrome compromises your nervous system and you have no control over the tics and the sounds that you make that you wish you hadn’t, it can be a lonely, unforgiving, anxiety-ridden time.
So let Quincy Roche, New York Giant, be an inspiration to all, to NFL players or to anyone in any walk of life, for being a Profile in Courage and Determination and Perseverance, for refusing to let the hand he was dealt shatter his dreams, for overcoming, and triumphing, against all odds.
“And that’s what really taught me how to embrace it,” Roche told The Post. “Elementary school, sometimes you’ll have vocal tics where you can’t really control what you’re saying. Elementary school, you have kids who don’t really understand, so they’ll make fun of that, they’ll joke about that. So that was tough.
“But what it taught me was that instead of being shy about it, you just gotta embrace. Tourette’s, once you got it, it’s not going anywhere, so you just gotta embrace it.”
Roche credits football for embracing and befriending him, from New Town High School in Randallstown, Md., where he grew up a Ravens fan, to Temple to Miami (Fla.) to the Steelers selecting him in the sixth round of the 2021 NFL Draft to the Giants signing him the day after he was released, to the last-minute strip-sack of Derek Carr that sealed Sunday’s win over the Raiders.
“It might be cliche, but football was always helping me,” Roche told The Post, “because on the field, I think, you never really have problems when you’re like locked-in on things, when you’re mind is like occupied.
“You go through ups and downs with it. Sometimes it’s worse than others. But really breathing techniques, focusing on things. … My mother used to buy me wooden things to build, things like that. So I’ve tried numerous things, and all the time you just get into a flow of learning what works best with you.”
Entire article:
https://nypost.com/2021/11/09/giants-quincy-roche-didnt-let-tourettes-syndrome-stop-him/
