Brain Concussions at Any Age
We’ve been following the story of a young local junior high school athlete who got hit hard in a football game. 16-year old Zachery Lystedt was sent back in twice after getting what turned out to be a major concussion and he collapsed minutes after the game was finished. As a result of Zach’s injury, Washington State passed one of the strongest pieces of legislation to protect minors from additional injury following severe head trauma. Read our earlier post about Zachery and the new Washington law by clicking HERE.
The Seattle Times had more recent news on Zach along with another piece on some of the hidden dangers of high school sports:
Tahoma schools settle football-injury claim for $14.6 million
The family of a Maple Valley boy who was permanently disabled from injuries suffered playing junior-high football has settled with the Tahoma School District for $14.6 million, according to the district’s attorney.
Read the rest of the story by clicking HERE.
Special report: The dangers of adolescents playing football with concussions
Concussions may be nothing unusual in high-school football, but playing with one could result in a devastating brain injury. The stories of five Washington boys illustrate the risks of not letting the developing brain heal.
Read the rest of the story by clicking HERE.
So let’s see: The Tahoma school district was found to be negligent in their duty to protect Zach from further injury when they continued to push him back into the game with a brain injury and they settled the case with him and his family for nearly $15 million so that Zach can have a decent shot at recovery. I can only hope that this might be a sign of things to come.
For decades, professional football players have also been constantly told to suck it up and get back into the game (and they still are). Be sure to read some of the comments made on recent posts about those “stingers” that many of us were told we had gotten from playing the game. The team doctors would simply send you in for a quick operation and you were put back out on the field as soon as you recovered.
This is why I can’t overemphasize the significance of the independent study of NFL football players’ brains that the Amen Clinic is in the process of completing. If you don’t want to take advantage of their generous offer for yourself, please, please, PLEASE do it for your families and loved ones. Dr. Willeumier has informed me that many of you guys have already signed up but if you haven’t done so already, click HERE to read that earlier post and call in to sign up right away – this offer is currently limited to the first 100 players to join the study!
And if you can’t afford the airfare to get to the Amen Clinic, please call in and put your name on the list anyway. We’re looking for corporate sponsors as well as private donations to pay the airfare so we’re hoping to cover some of you guys on a first-come-first-served basis. Just let Dr. Willeumier put you on the list. And if you’re one of the fortunate folks who can help your fellow players in need, just drop me a note or give me a call.
Larry Kaminski
September 19th, 2009 at 4:01 pm #
Dave:
Thanks again for your efforts to not only help us who played in the 60′s and 70′s who have health issues but to get institutions like Amen Clinic to provide the analysis. I wonder if any of the owners even gave it a thought that this might be an endeavor worth pursuing to see if any of us were harmed in the breaking-the-wedge days, the time of the head slap and helmets made very poorly.
I hope you are recovering well from your many operations.
Larry Kaminski
Denver Broncos
1966 -1973
Dave Pear
September 19th, 2009 at 4:35 pm #
Parents need to count the cost of allowing their children to participate in youth football.
Football is hazardous to your health!
For years, the tobacco industry denied the harmful and deadly effects from smoking. Now they are required by law to write a WARNING on every package of cigarettes they sell.
Like smoking, football also has some very dangerous side effects.
Many of us have read horror stories about the physical dangers of football and the numerous surgeries that cripple and disable so many football players.
These injuries can be life-changing to the injured player and his family.
In the past, head injuries have been a stigma that most football players don’t openly discuss. Unless the injury is so severe and caught on film as in the case of young Zachery Lystedt.
As a retired NFL player that has been receiving social security disability since the age of 50, I can’t help but think of the long term effects of cumulative head trauma that football players receive. These repeated blows to the head certainly do have long-term effects.
If a player is able to continue playing football through high school, college and on into the NFL, then this business of football becomes very brutal!
The Amen Clinic is currently offering free brain examinations to 100 retired NFL players to help better understand the effects of repeated head injuries. This is a very generous gift from Dr. Amen and I strongly encourage retired players to contact Dr. Willeumier at 1 (949) 266-3703.
The NFL is following in the same footsteps of denial as the tobacco industry did for years. They’re unwilling to acknowledge the serious head injuries that so many former players have sustained from the game (or business).
The current disability system in the NFL has proven to be a debacle and it is almost impossible for most disabled players to access their benefits.
Now, factor in head injuries. This becomes a subject (or a can of worms) that the NFL desperately wants to avoid because of the bad publicity and ensuing liability.
However, studies such as the one being conducted by The Amen Clinic will go a long way in giving transparency to what really happens to the brain when you are hit in the head while playing football.
Sincerely,
Dave & Heidi Pear
George Visger
September 19th, 2009 at 10:09 pm #
I pray to God that Zachery and his family find support in their journey with his head injury, as it will take a team effort to help get him back on his feet and on to a productive life. I speak from 28 years of experience, having developed hydrocephalus (water on the brain) during my second season with the 49ers in ’81. I underwent emergency brain surgery early in the season (the first Super Bowl championship) and have had a total of 9 emergency brain surgeries to replace my shunt since, with several grand mal seizures, major short-term memory and anger management issues to deal with since.
I recently teamed up with Dr. Cantu and Chris Nowinski of the Sports Legacy Institute to begin conducting Coaches Concussion Clinic Seminars in CA and Dave Pear and I will be attending Dr. Amen’s Clinic for neurological evaluations in New Port Beach CA.
Men, I KNOW I am not the only one who suffers (and whose wives and families suffer) from anger management issues, short-term memories problems etc. These can be symptoms of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) which is what killed Andre Waters and Mike Webster. This is a REAL disease, caused by repeated trauma to the head and it’s time we all quit trying to suck it up and do something about it.
I have been invited to address the CA Brain Injury Association (CALBIA) in Bakersfield on 9/28 & 9/29 and to address the CA Senate on bill 533 (Head Injuries in Youth Sports) in January for CALBIA, will be interviewed on CH 12 Chico CA news 10/6, guest speak at the Hydrocephalus Walk in Chico, CA on 10/10, will co-Chair the Hydrocephalus Walk at the Presidio in San Francisco on 10/25, speak to the national global meeting on Hydrocephalus in Cincinatti in 2010 and address Washington DC for them.
My family has suffered through living with me for 28 years, never knowing when the next seizure, coma from my shunt going out or just verbal attack will come, and I am determined to do all I can WHILE I can to prevent others from following my path. I know I’m not the only one out there and would like to hear from some of my other NFL brothers who have also suffered head injuries.
George Visger
San Francisco 49ers 1980 & 1981