A few years ago, Max Conradt was an exceptional high school scholar athlete when he suffered his first concussion on a southern Oregon football field. After suffering a second concussion in a game the following week, Max was unconscious and in a coma that would last for four months. Today Max is in a long-term care facility doing his best to cope day by day, surrounded by family and friends who do what they can to make his life better.
Max suffers from Second Impact Syndrome, which occurs when a person receives a second concussion in close temporal proximity to a first concussion.
The second concussion re-injures already weakened brain cells, causing the devastating brain injury that Max will endure for the rest of his life.
Unfortunately, Max's high school football coach didn't appreciate the fact that Max's brain was struggling to recover from the first concussion when Max was allowed to play in that fateful next game. Had the coach understood the causes of Second Impact Syndrome, Max would have been watching that next game from the sidelines instead of taking punishing blows at quarterback.
Max's story may have ended in that care facility were it not for the efforts of Max's father, Ralph, and the tireless advocacy of many doctors, state athletic administrators and the staff of the Brain Injury Association of Oregon, who were motivated by Max's tragedy to support legislation requiring that all high school athletic coaches in Oregon receive concussion recognition training.
The law, known as "Max's Law," was signed by Gov. Ted Kulongoski after it passed unanimously through the House and Senate and is now the law of the state of Oregon. It's a landmark law that will save young lives and serve as a model for other states seeking to address the issue of concussion recognition among youth athletic coaches.
Brain injuries are often misunderstood by the public and even by the victims of the injury themselves. In the case of a high school athlete who suffers a concussion, there are many pressures to get back onto the field. The team needs the player, there are league standings to consider, not to mention the college scouts who might be at any given game. An athlete can be forgiven if he (or she) thinks that the world depends on him being out on the field. But, as anyone who knows Max Conradt will tell you, the cost of an early return to play can have devastating, life-changing results.
Max was on his way to an Ivy League school before his injury. Now he struggles with the most basic physical tasks. No one can pretend that the benefit of Max being on the field for that next game outweighs for even a second the life that he now leads.
High school is typically about teaching kids. What Max's Law recognizes is that sometimes it's the adults who need the lessons. Concussions occur in every sport, with boys' football having the highest prevalence of concussions, followed closely by girls' soccer. Straightforward concussion-recognition training will teach coaches that when a player suffers a head trauma on the field, it's not to be taken lightly. Coaches will learn what symptoms to look for and to advise that the player seek medical attention when a concussion is suspected. When a concussion is diagnosed, the coach will know that the player needs to sit out until the player has been symptom-free for at least a week. As any sports injury doctor will tell you, "When in doubt, sit them out."
Max's coach didn't follow this advice, and Max will suffer the consequences for the rest of his life. Max's Law, however, will go a long way toward ensuring that such a tragedy never happens again.
David Kracke is a board member of the Brain Injury Association of Oregon and a Portland attorney.