Oct. 15, 2014 -- At 13, Zackery Lystedt was a star player on his junior-high-school football team.
Then one game changed everything.
It was the second quarter. Lystedt went down hard after making a tackle, clutching both sides of his helmet in pain. He shook it off and kept playing, taking hit after hit. Only later did his family find out that first impact had given him a concussion.
At the end of the game, Lystedt collapsed in his father's arms. He was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where surgeons determined he'd had multiple strokes. They removed the left and right sides of his skull -- the only way to relieve pressure.
He spent 2 months in a coma, 7 days on life support, and 93 days in the hospital. That was in 2006.
He’s spent the last 8 years relearning how to walk, talk, and regain his independence.
Lystedt told his story at a sports medicine conference at the American Academy of Pediatrics' annual meeting last week. His case helped spark a movement to create laws regarding concussions and young athletes -- laws that might have prevented his injury had they been in place 8 years ago.
Recovery Time Is Key
Each year, about 4 million sports- and recreation-related concussions happen in the U.S., according to the CDC. Of those, many affect young people.
Most of the time, concussions are minor and people can spring back quickly and make a full recovery, says Stanley Herring, MD. He's a clinical professor and co-medical director of the Sports Concussion Program at University of Washington Medicine and Seattle Children's Hospital.
Herring told the conference that giving the injured time to recover is vital.
Over the years, experts have learned much more about concussions and their effects on the brain. "It's not the first concussion, but playing while concussed that can lead to rare and devastating consequences," Herring said.
Repetitive brain trauma, including concussions and even less-severe hits to the head, is linked with a worsening brain disease known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE.
That condition has long been seen in boxers, but more recently has been confirmed in retired professional football players and other athletes who had repeated head trauma, according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. CTE can lead to memory loss, confusion, impaired judgment, impulse control problems, aggression, and depression.
In 2013, the NFL reached a $765 million settlement with thousands of former players who have dementia, Alzheimer's, and depression. The players contend that the league hid the dangers of concussions, and in some cases, returned injured players to the field.
The mindset of allowing young athletes time to recover before they get back on the field, though, is finally taking hold. As of February, all 50 states now have a concussion law on the books, Herring says. In general, the laws call for young athletes to be removed from play if a concussion is suspected. They must also be medically checked before being approved to return to play.
None of this progress would have happened, Herring says, without the Lystedt family's efforts.
source : Concussions: Teen’s Tragedy Spurs Policy Change
