Cdc A Father's Story

THE TRUTH Zach Lystedt was 14 years old when he suffered repeated head injuries during a football game. Zach was rushed to the hospital after he became unable to stand. He had to have

“emergency life-saving surgery to remove the left and right side of his skull to relieve the pressure from his injured and swelling brain, and experienced numerous strokes. He spent seven days on a ventilator and three months in a coma before he awoke to his parents and a new reality.” (CDC A Father's Story”) This story is becoming all too common for football players and athletes of many other sports. However, football is the number one cause of devastating head injuries in America. Football causes brain injuries and long term health effects resulting in football players suffering from irreversible brain damage, chronic traumatic encephalopathy, and even committing suicide.

The problems that football players face after repeated head injuries are life-long and devastating to their health. Researchers at Boston University confirmed that “88 of 92 former NFL football players suffer with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a brain disease introduced by repetitive head trauma and linked to depression, aggression, impulse-control problems, memory loss and dementia.” These health problems are very difficult to deal with and show how hard football is on the body, especially the brain. According the the National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research, “In 2014, more than 9,500 concussions were reported among high school football players in the U.S. At least eight high school football players have died…” NFL players are not the only ones at risk. High school players are suffering from these injuries too, putting young athletes in danger of not only injury, but of