We have all heard the sad stories on the news. An athlete has lost their life due to a tragic accident where something went wrong. It happens for a lot of reasons. To the extent that we can we are going to tell these stories here and keep them up.
To often these tragedies come and go and are then forgotten. That is not OK with us because these kids need to be remembered and not forgotten. It is important. So we will start documenting and will go back as well and add the pictures and stories of the kids we have lost.
Football: Honoring The Fallen
Nathan Stiles: Nov 2010
Nathan Stiles, a Kansas high school star senior running back, linebacker and homecoming king, died Friday morning after he was taken to the hospital for an injury sustained during a game in Osawatomie, Kansas.
Stiles reportedly intercepted a pass, walked to the sidelines and collapsed shortly after the play, according to NBC Action News. He was pronounced dead on Friday, at approximately 4 a.m., hours after arriving at University of Kansas hospital in Kansas City by helicopter.
A report on Yahoo!’s Prep Rally blog notes that Spring Hill Coach Anthony Orrick told the Miami County Republic that Stiles complained of head pain before collapsing.
“It was just a routine play. I don’t think there was anything special,” Orrick told the Miami County Republic after the game. “I think he just hit the ground pretty hard with his head. He came on the sideline and told one of my assistants, ‘my head is really hurting.’ He sat down on the bench. He then stood up, but his legs went underneath him and collapsed there.”
NBC Action News also reports that Stiles was taking part in his first game since returning from a concussion suffered in early October. Stiles’ father confirmed this to the Kansas City Star, noting that his son suffered a concussion during the homecoming game earlier in the month, but was cleared to play Thursday.
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Drew Swank: Hauser Lake, Idaho ; Spokane, Washington; Oct 2009
Drew Swank was a natural born athlete. He was strong with great balance and coordination. Drew was a leader amongst his peers and a competitor in many sports and endeavors. He was also a Varsity football player for the Valley Christian Panthers of Spokane, Washington. He was a central part of the team.
Drew suffered what is known as Second Impact Syndrome. It is a terrible example of what can happen when an athlete is playing with a concussion and receives a Second blow; hard enough to cause a second concussive event.
Drew Was hurt on September 18th, 2009 and was diagnosed with a concussion. His school did not have a trainer nor were they using the ImPACT Test. Unfortunately his Family Doctor cleared him to play the very next Friday as he seemed fine.
On September 25th, 2009 while on a road game Drew took several blows trying to help his team. One would prove fatal and caused his already bleeding brain to flow out of control.
This second impact killed him. Drew leaves behind an amazing family and community and left us way to soon. His family are amongst our founders at BrainChampions.org and he is the #15 of our Team 7:15 Concussion Prevention Game plan.
Check our more about Drew at www.joindrewsteam.com
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DeShawn Smith; Renton, Washington
One Saturday night in 2004, during a typically raucous season-opening football game at Foster High School, DeShawn Smith, a sophomore running back at Tyee High, gathered a pass, turned upfield, and was hit helmet-to-helmet by an opposing player. He staggered to his feet, walked to the sideline, sat down and collapsed.
He died three days later of acute subdural hematoma, or blood that accumulated between the brain and its outer lining, caused by a ruptured blood vessel.
RIP DeShawn Smith
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Quadaar White of Upper Darby, PA died at Childrens Hospital in Philadelphia after taking a knee to the head; August 30th, 2010.
Teammates say Quadaar was playing defense and went to make a tackle when he suffered a crushing blow. He went to low in the tackle and hit his neck and dropped to the ground. They said he was having trouble breathing, and was talking low and didn’t seem to understand those around him. They said once the paramedics arrived he had stopped breathing forcing rescuers to perform CPR.
He is remembered by all of his family and friends.
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Matthew Gfeller was 15 years-old and a rising sophomore at RJ Reynolds High School when he suffered a fatal blow to the head in a Friday night football game against Page High. Gfeller was on life support for two days. Doctors said he died from a torn blood vessel that caused brain swelling.
Bob and Lisa Gfellers’ are rebounding the the loss and have founded a Traumatic Brain Injury Research Center in Matt’s memory at the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill.
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Dylan Steigers; Missoula, Montana Sept 8th, 2010
Dylan was from Missoula, Montana. He was a 2006 graduate from Sentinel High School in Missoula, where he played football for coach Pete Joseph.
Dylan was preparing to play football at Eastern Oregon University and had recently transfered from University of Montana.
He took a blow to the head in practice Saturday May 8th, 2010.
He was transported to Grand Ronde Hospital and later flown to Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise, school officials said. Doctors said he suffered an acute subdural hematoma as a result of the head injury.
The injury led to his death on Sunday May 9th.
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Jake Snakenberg; Septenmber 19th, 2004
On September 19th, 2004 Freshmen Jake Snakenberg of Grandview HS in Colorado passed away of Second Impact Syndrome
The day was Sept. 18, 2004, a Saturday. Her son, Jake Snakenberg, a freshman football player at Grandview, had been injured in a game the week before but assured his mom he was ready to play that day.
Like in so many cases before he was not ready and there is no way anyone could have known for sure. He went down in the game and would never get up. A wonderful young 14 year old boy lost his life that day. His mother and family work hard now to make sure that does not happen again.
REAP, a cutting-edge standard for concussion management of high school athletes, and written by Dr. Karen McAvoy, a former school psychologist at Grandview, is dedicated to Jake’s memory.
“I can’t say enough about what that means,” Jantz said. “I’m proud of him. If he were alive, he would want to do something like this. It’s fitting that in his absence, he still has some sort of impact.”
Rocky Mountain Children’s Health Foundation has established the Jake Snakenberg Memorial Fund, in order to financially assist continuing research and education on concussions. For more information, call 303-839-6782.
Read more: Signs weren’t obvious in concussion death of Jake Snakenberg – The Denver Posthttp://www.denverpost.com/preps/ci_16358037?source=pkg#ixzz1LKiU2W8a
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Jaquan Waller; Sept. 24th, 2008 Greenville Rose High School
Jaquan Waller of Greenville Rose High School Died in 2008 of Second Impact Syndrome
The Junior Running Back for the Greeville Rose High School team was playing hurt in September of 2008. He went down in the game never to get up. Another confirmed victim of Second Impact Syndrome.
In a statement, Dr. M.G.F. Gilliland said Jaquan Waller died because of a “very rare condition which can occur when two relatively minor head injuries occur in a short time interval. It usually occurs in young athletes and is very rapidly fatal.”
Waller, a junior running back, left the field after being tackled in Rose’s game that night against Wilmington Hoggard. He then collapsed on the sideline. Waller was taken to Pitt County Memorial Hospital, where he was placed on life support. He died Saturday morning. Waller had been hit in practice two days before the game and suffered a mild concussion.
The cause of death was “closed head injury (due) to sequential impacts during contact sport,” according to the statement.
Bless his family and community. RIP Jaquan.
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Brian Colvin; Lewisville HS, South Carolina. August 13, 2010
It is with a heavy heart that we report to our followers the death of a South Carolina Football Player. This time it was Lewisville High School player Brian Colvin of South Carolina.
Brian was a talented athlete and a great kid by all accounts.
He simple collapsed after he went out of bounds. He hit the ground and according to many went into seizures and died.
The official word was “heart attack” by medical staff and coaching staff. But an autopsy so far has not born that out. At least not for sure.
The thing is the seizures. That does not sound like heart attack. This could be a heat related death… it had been hot all week. But this was a night game.
Could this be another brain injury related death? God let’s hope not.
One of the things we have learned form our members cases…. Second Impact Syndrome takes this form. We hope and pray it was not. But we sure hope the truth is found.
Forget the posturing and the rationalizing. This is serious. And no one can gloss over what happened. Brian is gone and everyone deserves to know what it was.
There is one very disturbing but not surprising aspect of this.
“There’s also at least one parent who saw Colvin collapse who told NewsChannel 36 by phone the team and emergency responders didn’t work fast enough to save him.
That parent didn’t want to be identified.
“They just thought, ok, just another injury. That kid’s life was on the line. That kid lost his life because of that,” said the parent.
School district and county EMS officials say they responded quickly, appropriately and according to procedure.
Four people worked on Colvin, including two paramedics, plus the team doctor and team trainer.
They want to know what killed Colvin too.”
OK. There. Someone said it.
What we hear all the time. People take to long to react. And in many cases they do not know what to do.
The school should have had a detailed emergency response plan. School Officials and Trainers need to act within seconds. Not minutes. So this will be an interesting case to follow.
One of Brain Champions Team 7:15 Concussion Management items is to have a very very detailed Emergency Management Plan and to transport immediately. People standing around is not a part of that.
Brian we remember you here fore ever. Our Members pray for your family and know as well or better then anyone the loss they have suffered.
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