Posted on 11/08/2011 6:40:12 AM PST by BenLurkin
A 13-year-old football player faces possible paralysis after suffering a spinal injury in a Pop Warner football game.
Donnovan Hill fractured his spine Sunday during the Midget Orange Bowl championship game. The star running back for the Lakewood Lancers dropped to the ground after hitting his head while trying to block a play.
Hill’s mother, Crystal Dixon, says Hill loves football, and was being recruited by two private schools to play for them. She says he is being strong for everyone.
Dixon says Hill told her, “be strong, I’m alright, this is part of football.”
Family, friends, and teammates say they’re praying the surgeons at Mission Hospital are able to repair the spinal fracture, and keep Hill’s dream alive.
I guess it’s news because he’s only 13 and is facing a lifetime as a quadriplegic—and it probably won’t be a long lifetime because high spinal injuries cause a constellation of related physical problems that at some point just can’t be solved. It’s terribly tragic. On the other hand (a) that doesn’t mean kids shouldn’t play football, (b) it’s worthwhile to talk about how kids are being coached, (c)medical science advances constantly and miracles are happening all the time, and (d) it’s possible that the injury is repairable and the kid will recover. We don’t know from this article.
As I said, injuries happene every days, hundreds of them, thousands even, so why is this story newsworthy?
Yes, there are hundreds or thousands of injuries from sports every day. Probably only one per year is a life-threatening spinal fracture in a young kid. The unusual and tragic nature of the injury is what makes it news.
“Probably only one per year is a life-threatening spinal fracture in a young kid.”
You’d be wrong about that. These types of stories usually wind up being “Ban Sports!” stories.
“I know cuz my school would not let the cheerleaders cheer the chess club matches.”
Are there even any chess cheers ?
If I heard it once, I heard it 1000 times: "Always see what you hit." It amazes me anymore how many players I see go in head down.
I’m sure there are. My high school poker club had a cheer,
Aces! Aces! Back to back!
Fill that straight with a one-eyed Jack!
Gooooo...ooo TEAM!
My HS fencing club did too but I never went to a bout to hear.
Bobby Fischer was such a dork.....
So if I’m wrong, and if spinal fractures in thirteen-year-old football players aren’t unusual and tragic, how many are there each year?
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