Brain Injury

Having survived a subdural hematoma, which occurred in July of 2007, the article about Austin Story's traumatic brain injury was the first thing I read Tuesday morning ("Kids make up largest group with traumatic brain injuries," Nov. 9). Although my profile is very different from Austin's, our trip through recovery is very much the same. These thoughts go out to Austin, his family, and the many others that have experienced a traumatic brain injury: It is a long, strange trip, but the brain is a fluid and amazing organ.

Austin Story doesn't remember the late-summer outing at a friend's lakefront home in New Jersey, or the rocks he climbed near a waterfall. Or how he lost his footing and, as his horrified mother looked on, fell about 50 feet. The 14-year-old lay motionless with a traumatic brain injury as his father tried to get him off the rocks and find help. Two months later, Austin is still being treated at the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, though he has learned again to walk and talk.

I have serious doubts if players and their families can truly rely upon the league to provide the protection that players are entitled to ("Heads-up on concussions," editorial, July 30). While the league should be commended for their poster and attempts to educate players on the long-term consequences of concussions, the true test of the league's commitment to the health of their players will be how they ultimately respond to players who develop long-term disabilities following any type of brain injury.

Bengals wide receiver Chris Henry suffered from a chronic brain injury that may have influenced his mental state and behavior before he died last winter, West Virginia University researchers said Monday. The doctors had done a tissue analysis of Henry's brain that showed he suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy. Henry died in December, a day after he came out of the back of a pickup truck his fiancee was driving near their home in Charlotte, N.C. Neurosurgeon Julian Bailes and fellow researchers at West Virginia believe chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, is caused by multiple head impacts, regardless of whether those blows result in a concussion diagnosis.

An Iraqi insurgent shot him in the chest. Later, he was wounded in the back in an ambush. But what left this U.S. Marine debilitated, perhaps for life, was a blast-induced, traumatic brain injury that initially went undetected. Advanced body armor is saving our troops' lives, but soldiers have little protection against blast-induced, traumatic brain injury, the "signature injury" in today's wars. There is a need for research that can help reduce such injuries, and Maryland has a unique ability to do it — with additional federal help.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - - Nat Segaren drove his truck across the stink and rubble of the city in search of a last chance, four injured people stretched out on dirty blankets in the back. He found it at the waterfront, where a triage team from the USNS Comfort looked at his passengers and agreed to take three but declined a partially paralyzed man with a brain injury - he would require too much of the floating hospital's resources and still probably would not survive. Segaren thanked them, helped transfer the patients, then climbed back into his truck to drive off with his fourth passenger, who now was all but officially a dead man. "I know there's nothing anyone can do," said Segaren, who works for a pediatric HIV program in Haiti and has been caring for 18 critical earthquake victims at a community hospital southwest of the city.

Nat Segaren drove his truck across the stink and rubble of the city in search of a last chance, four injured people stretched out on dirty blankets in the back. He found it at the waterfront, where a triage team from the USNS Comfort looked at his passengers and agreed to take three but declined a partially paralyzed man with a brain injury - he would require too much of the floating hospital's resources and still probably would not survive. Segaren thanked them, helped transfer the patients, then climbed back into his truck to drive off with his fourth passenger, who now was all but officially a dead man. "I know there's nothing anyone can do," said Segaren, who works for a pediatric HIV program in Haiti and has been caring for 18 critical earthquake victims at a community hospital southwest of the city.

Caused by a bump, blow, or jolt to the head, a traumatic brain injury can range from mild (known as a concussion) to severe, and can disrupt the way the brain normally works. Signs and symptoms of a brain injury can show up right after the injury or take several hours or days to appear. Although most people get better over time, it is important to know when and how to seek help. Dr. Beth Slomine of the Brain Injury Rehabilitation Program at Kennedy Krieger Institute offers advice about head injuries: * Simple precautions can help you reduce the chances of having a traumatic brain injury.

It's the lightning season again. Bolts from the sky kill more than 50 Americans each year, on average. Nine have died so far in 2009. Most are young males, and a third are struck at work. Ninety percent of those hit by lightning survive, but often with chronic pain, brain injury and thought-processing problems. Hear thunder? Go inside. Stay off (and unplug) hard-wired computers, phones or games.

The death of 45-year-old Natasha Richardson last week from what had been labeled a "mild brain injury" after a skiing accident has experts in trauma warning the public to take a blow to the head seriously. An autopsy confirmed the actress, who fell on the slopes, died of an epidural hematoma, which is bleeding between the skull and the outer layer that covers the brain called the dura. But doctors not involved in her care noted reports that said she initially refused treatment. It's not possible for those who didn't examine her to say faster treatment would have saved her. And death from such a seemingly minor accident is rare.