Man Dies From Heading A Soccer Ball

[Guest]

Here is a link to the article about this rare occurrence.

http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/news/...-dies-brain-haemorrhage-heading-football.html

 

[zipper2]

Allodwick,

They are saying or blaming it on warfarin, if im wrong tell me,
but i see it as an unforseeable cause of death,sure he was on warfarin
But........so am i and i know the dangers of my workplace also and what
occurs in police cellblocks etc,i know what occurs on warfarin,if i cross the
street and the bus is a step from hitting me running me over dead.
We aren't predictors of what if's,it would be a boring life,dont you think?
I mean i look at it this way on or off of warfarin.i do agree the fear of
death exists more for me at the fear of not completing my work before i
die whether on warfarin or not. I feel for this family and their loss but
tend to disagree it was the warfarin, that caused the death.

Okay scold me cause iv'e said too much
This is just my opinion and i'm not new to warfarin oldie at 16 years
whats your opinion your on warfarin alot longer....You pro

zipper2

 

[Ross]

That's why I love media reports, they leave out all the needed facts and in this case, looks like the pros couldn't determine either. Instead of blaming warfarin, why didn't they just say cause unknown? I'm not trying to say this just to make warfarin look good, but sheesh.

 

[Guest]

I wrote a comment on the Mail website. There is no right answer. If he had gone to the hospital right away, the bleed might have been so small that it didn't show up or was overlooked. Then he would have a false sense of security.

I consulted for the defense on a murder trial where we used this very point to get an acquittal. The evidence was that the guy was drunk and fell down three steps and landed on his head. Two days later he went to the hospital, lost consciousness before the neurosurgeon arrived and died. It happens so rarely that it is not worth worrying about but it can happen.

The newspaper headline, EXPERT FROM COLORADO DENIES MOTHER THE JUSTICE SHE SO DEARLY SOUGHT.

 

[catwoman]

<Mr Belk, father of two grown-up children, had had a heart pacemaker fitted ten years earlier and was taking the blood-thinning agent Warfarin, which can lead to weakening of blood vessels in the head. >

HUH???????? OK, we have warfarin once again identified as a blood-thinning agent.

And since when did warfarin have the potential to weaken blood vessels in the head?

 

[Guest]

Another way to look at it.

This guy lived 10 years after having heart failure and he died from playing the game he loved.

Who could ask for more?

 

[perrypiratesdad]

"Even if he had been taken to hospital immediately, he could not have been saved. " ... not sure how they are coming up with that conclusion. I had a brain hemorrhage back in march of 2000, and I lived (well, almost didn't but I did).

At least the guy didn't bleed to death shaving.

 

[Marty]

I was a boxer during WW11 and after, in the Golden Gloves for a couple of years. I remember my coach telling me that if I was punched and "saw stars" it meant I had a little brain bleed and to let him know. I guess this is stil true and would not recommend boxing for any one on warfarin.

 

[catwoman]

Al:

Nine years ago, a kitten I sold a family died 1 month later -- from feline ischemic encephalopathy, a weakening of a blood vessel in the brain, not too unlike what happened to this soccer player. I paid for the autopsy at Texas A&M Vet School.
Symptoms were very subtle (just not acting "normal," although blood work & temp were normal). Kitten started seizuring about 30-36 hours later and died. Because this was a kitten, attending vets were suspecting a viral or bacterial infection.

 

[EireCara]

*Does warfarin itself weaken blood vessels......or does it happen due to INR being too high ???

 

[Guest]

Heading the ball weakens the blood vessels. When they get bad enough they will start to bleed. With warfarin the bleed will be worse than without it.

 

[Lynlw]

This is a bit tangential, but information has been developing over the last few years to suggest that children should not be allowed to head soccer balls. Even under normal circumstances, it seems it can cause microscopic injuries to the brain. Who knew? Years ago, when soccer became popular for children in the US, it was partly because it was thought to be less "violent" than American football. Now we are seeing that, although it causes fewer joint injuries, it may cause subtle brain damage if the ball is repeatedly headed.

When Justin was younger, I was on the board of our local soccer club (even tho I never played soccer I got wrangled into coachin g when he was really young)and I rember discussing this, because studies were just starting to come out about studies on headding..I don't remeber the actual reports but from what I remember they were thinking it was more a culmulative type affect on the kids.

 

[Susan BAV]

<Mr Belk, father of two grown-up children, had had a heart pacemaker fitted ten years earlier and was taking the blood-thinning agent Warfarin, which can lead to weakening of blood vessels in the head. >

...And since when did warfarin have the potential to weaken blood vessels in the head?

I don't know if it's true or not but I have read this potential elsewhere, in connection to "long term" ACT use. I've also read that blood vessels are weakened from long-term hypertension, diabetes, and other medical issues, etc.

Regarding head injuries, I'm no expert but do know some about it from researching an injury within my family, a "Closed-Head Acquired Traumatic Brain Injury." The statistics indicate that following one concussion, a person is much more likely to have a second concussion (something like 30x, as I recall from some reports) and following a second concussion, a person is even much more likely to have a third concussion (something like hundreds of times more likely). This can be due to several things, in reinjuring already injured areas, partly due to bleeds, partly due to scarring, partly due to the frequently hidden and/or unrecognized reduced mental capacity of the victim from the first incident, etc. The snowball effect continues with subsequent head injuries. Males statistically deal with this more than females; young men (mid-teens to mid-twenties) deal with this more than any other age group, as I recall from my research a decade ago.

 

[Karlynn]

I Googled "Coumadin weakens blood vessels". I went through 5 pages and found all sorts of other things that can weaken blood vessels, but the only article I found that said that Coumadin weakens blood vessels was the one on the death of the soccer player.