NOTE: In September 2014, Boston College defenseman Kaliya Johnson underwent unexpected brain surgery. Two months later, she was back on the ice as the Eagles became the nation's No. 1 team and advanced to the Frozen Four. A year later - as BC is once again number one in the country with a perfect 36-0-0 record - Johnson looks back on one of the biggest events of her life and how it's impacted her this year in her senior campaign.

I took a hit in practice at the end of the 2014 season and was diagnosed with and treated for a concussion by our athletic trainer and team physician. But two or three months later, I was having concussion symptoms. I left Boston and went home and was working out a little - the minimum that I could, what I would tolerate before I would get fatigued and get a headache. But when I came back to school over the summer for summer school, that's when they said, "OK, you need to go see a concussion specialist."

It had happened to be my fourth concussion and I was still having symptoms four months later, so I went and saw a specialist at Boston Children's Hospital. He said since it was my fourth concussion, it might be something serious and that I might need to slow down. So he ordered an MRI on my head to check out what was going on.

I was in the machine at the hospital, the technician said that she had just called my doctor and that we needed to do an additional scan on my spine. I'm just lying in this machine and then they said we have to do another one, but since I was already in there, she said it was better than having me come back.

Once it was over, I got out and she said that they'd seen something in my head and that they weren't supposed to tell me, but I had a Chiari malformation. At this point, I didn't really know what that meant, and she couldn't really explain it since it wasn't her position to. I actually probably shouldn't have known anything was wrong at that point.

I came back to BC and was talking to Aaron (Clark, women's hockey athletic trainer) and Bert (Lenz, Director of Olympic Sports Medicine) and I didn't know what to do since she'd told me I have a Chiari and I didn't know what that meant. They explained that my brain was sitting below the base of my skull, so it had shifted and narrowed through the base of my skull and was sitting on my spinal cord. That's where all the nerve endings were, which is what was giving me all of those headaches because there was all that pressure on my brain. I was had spinal fluid building up in the bottom of my skull and in my spine. That was one of the things they noticed in the head scan - which is why they ended up doing the CT scan on my spine.

I ended up getting a call a few days later and the concussion specialist referred me to a surgeon. They told me I shouldn't be exercising anymore and I couldn't lift more than five pounds. This was all over the phone. The specialist said my brain was sitting 22 millimeters below my skull - which was a bit much - and my brain was exposed causing all of these pressure headaches.

This was all a couple of days before I was set to go home after summer school ended and I didn't know what was going on. They were telling me I couldn't play and that I need to see a surgeon. So I talked to Aaron about it and he said the surgery would basically open up space in my skull and to allow my brain to have more breathing room so it wouldn't develop fluid build-up back there.

I went home and hung out for the next couple of months - I wasn't working out because I wasn't allowed to. And I knew that I didn't want to do the surgery in Arizona. Thankfully, I was able to get in with the surgeon in Boston before school started - I came back three weeks early to get in with him - and they were able to schedule my surgery for September 8, which is pretty quick turn-around for what was happening.

I had the surgery and after that he said I was recovering very well and I shouldn't have any problems. Before the surgery, if I'd had any sort of impact, something could have pinched in my skull or spine and I basically could have been paralyzed. It was weird because when I got the phone call to tell me about was going on, I had just finished the big summer hockey tournament. He was telling me all of this and I said, "I just finished a hockey game. What do you mean I can't play?"

I actually had a very quick turn-around after the surgery. I was back playing full-contact in two months. I think it only took me a month to recover where I would move around and work out. I was pretty thankful that it wasn't too long of a recovery time. I thought it would be a lot worse. I had no idea what was going on at first and I thought I'd have to redshirt, but thankfully it was a quicker turn-around than I thought.

After that hit in practice, all I knew was that I having headaches. I was just very thankful that they were able to find it. I would have never known. The doctor said a lot of people don't find out they have a Chiari malformation unless it's accidental - until they've hurt themselves or went in for something else. It's not something they look for. He said it was good that we'd found it then and that I would fine.

Getting back into school mode was a bit difficult. I missed the first two weeks of classes. I stayed with family friends in Walpole, but my teachers were very accommodating. They pushed all of my assignments back. When I actually got back to school, I went under disability services since I needed to get up and move around, be able to use my laptop to take notes - so that was very helpful, they gave me a temporary status so I could get those things. But other than that, the professors were surprisingly helpful and willing to move things around for me and let me get up and walk around since I'd get stiff from just sitting there.

I was definitely ready to get this season going. It was pretty difficult for me not going through preseason last year and seeing everyone testing, skating and at captains' practices - it was pretty hard to just sit there and watch. Even before my surgery, I was watching them and knowing I could run or skate with them, but I wasn't allowed to. This year, it was really nice to be able to get going with the team and start from the beginning. You don't realize, until you've had that taken away from you, how important it is to be there and do every single thing with your teammates at the beginning of the year.

I learned a lot about myself in the last year and a half. I learned how to deal with having a different role on the team when I came back. And this year, I have a whole completely different role. This year, I'm there for my teammates in a way I didn't think I ever could before this all happened. It definitely helped me strength-wise and being the best teammate that I could. When I wasn't playing, I had to be the cheerleader teammate and help out and keep people going and I never had to do that. I never had to deal with that throughout my time playing any sports, really. So it made me adapt and grow as a teammate - and a player.

Sitting out that time last year has helped me this year a lot. Sometimes I can see bits and pieces of it, like when a teammate is injured, I know what they're going through. I know what it's like to sit there and watch. But at the end of the day, you're doing that to help you get better and it's going to help the team when you get back on the ice. But it's definitely helped me being able to help in a different way. Being a senior allows me to voice my opinion a bit more in ways that I would've never thought to do. In past years, I was always the kid who sat there and didn't really talk that much. But now that I'm a senior, I realize that people are looking up to me - the sophomores and the freshmen - so I think I'm still getting used to it. I've never had to be that person, but I think I'm getting better at it this year.

When you're injured, you're watching a game and saying you want to be out there because this is how I would do it. I think one of the things I learned last year when I wasn't playing was that I was seeing something different from how I did on the ice. I could go up to (Megan) Keller and tell her she had something open, but she was only seeing this. Take another second to realize you have more time - that kind of thing. On the ice, being able to watch the whole game from a different view definitely helped me and how I look at the game now.

I was having a really hard time personally when I was coming back from my surgery, but the biggest thing was my teammates, my coaches and my mom having so much faith in me. Obviously it was hard for me to think that way when I was so worried about these little things. Like, if I went in the corner, was I going to fall and hit my head? But the fact that they were always rooting me on and cheering me on and saying I was going to be fine, it really helped. My first game back, I'd never been so nervous - ever - in my sports career. They didn't realize how much of an impact they had, but it was so helpful. That played a huge role in my recovery, learning my strengths and leaning on my teammates.