Kids are dying from playing school sports – shockingly and tragically, it’s not stopping. The reality is that football helmets are not enough to prevent serious harm and traumatic brain injuries: concussions and permanent injuries to the human brain that sometimes result in the death of a young athlete.
We’ve been monitoring this growing national tragedy for awhile now. For background information on how serious the threat of death is to young people playing high school and college football, check out these posts:
- CONCUSSION LAWS IN INDIANA AND ILLINOIS TRY TO KEEP KIDS SAFER AS THEY PLAY FOOTBALL AND OTHER SCHOOL SPORTS
- FOOTBALL HEAD INJURIES GET $30 MILLION FROM NFL DONATION TO NIH BRAIN INJURY RESEARCH: MANY DANGERS OF PLAYING FOOTBALL STILL BEING DISCOVERED
- HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL PLAYERS WILL PLAY EVEN AFTER HEAD INJURY AND CONCUSSION, NEW STUDY FINDS: NEED TO PROTECT KIDS FROM FOOTBALL INJURIES AND THEMSELVES
- BRAIN INJURIES TO KIDS AND TEENS FROM TBI CONCUSSIONS SUFFERED WHILE PLAYING FOOTBALL, HOCKEY: SPORTS HELMETS DO NOT PREVENT PERMANENT INJURY TO BRAIN
Sixteen Year Old High School Football Player Died Yesterday From Head Injury Suffered During Football Game
Another tragic football TBI head injury death was reported in today’s news as high school junior Damon W. Janes passed away in yesterday in a New York hospital from brain injuries he suffered while playing high school varsity football, in a “helmet to helmet” collision on the field.
Damon Janes was only 16 years old. Condolences can be shared with the family on Twitter.com with the hashtag #PrayForDamon.
Twenty-Two Year Old College Football Player Died During Practice, Parents File Suit
In other news, Derek Sheely’s family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Sheely’s football coaches, the manufacturer of his football helmet, and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). (The NCAA, headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, is a non-profit organization of over 1200 athletic programs.)
Derek Sheely was hurt during football practice camp for Frostburg University, when the young man collapsed on field sidelines shortly after a drill, after his football coach allegedly told him (according to the family’s pleadings per witnesses) that the boy shouldn’t complain about not feeling good and keep going with practice.
At the time, Sheely had suffered a major brain injury and he was bleeding from his head. A week after he died from massive head trauma. The family’s lawsuit points to repeated “helmet to helmet” collisions during the football practice as causing that fatal head trauma.
A foundation has been established in Derek Sheely’s name to educate players and their families about the very real problem of football injury concussions and the danger of football brain injury death.
For more information on the Derek Sheely Foundation, check out this video on YouTube.
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Sincerest condolences to both the Janes family and loved ones of Derek Sheely. Let us hope that between social media campaigns (Twitter, YouTube); blog posts like we are publishing;and lawsuits that are being filed, that some lives will be saved in the future from the needless and tragic death on a school football field from a traumatic brain injury concussion that a football helmet simply cannot prevent.
