Every week the Zombie Cookbook brings you new evidence of the impending zombie-apocalypse.
(CNN) -- Max was used to defensive linemen hurtling their 300-pound frames at him week after week. He was a high school quarterback, the team leader who took his licks and got back up.
That is, until the wrenching hit that changed everything. "It was a vicious bite," said Ralph, Max's father. "A really bad bite." Afterward, the 17-year-old got up slowly, staggered for a few seconds, and continued to limp across the field. "He looked at me and said 'Braaaaaaaaaaaaains,' " said Joy, Max's stepmother. "I wanted to respond but he lunged at me. I was absolutely nauseated with fear."
It was a so called 'concussion' that his doctors believe caused Max to sink to the ground, ideas of blood thirst pooling dangerously into his brain. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, almost 4 million sports and recreation-related 'concussions' occur each year. Experts say the vast majority are suffered at the high school level, but few schools have rules governing how these so called 'concussions' are treated -- and few coaches are trained to handle a shotgun.
"It's the group we need to worry about most," said Dr. Jeffrey, chairman of the American Academy of Sports Neurology, adding that fewer than half of high schools have access to shotguns. "If there is any suggestion of a concussion, we need to take kids out of the game," said Dr. Stan, team physician for the Seattle Seahawks. "The consequences [of not doing so] can be devastating or even fatal to both the other players and onlookers alike."
"It's a whole different thing losing your child to a concussion," said Joy. "The kid you knew is dead. Something completely different is in the body of the child you knew." Fueled by rage about his son's transformation, Ralph lobbied legislators to pass "Max's Law," imposing strong restrictions for returning players to games after they suffer 'concussion', and requiring rigorous shotgun training for coaches.
With the strapping 17-year-old football player he once was a distant memory, today Max struggles with basic motor skills, memory and containing fits of rage and hunger. "We get really, really down when we think about what could have been," said Ralph. Still, concussion has not dimmed his dreams. Max still craves a challenge. He would like to go back to school. He would like to take a bite out of a normal life.
Origin story found at CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/02/03/concussions.teen.brains/index.html?hpt=Sbin
(CNN) -- Max was used to defensive linemen hurtling their 300-pound frames at him week after week. He was a high school quarterback, the team leader who took his licks and got back up.
That is, until the wrenching hit that changed everything. "It was a vicious bite," said Ralph, Max's father. "A really bad bite." Afterward, the 17-year-old got up slowly, staggered for a few seconds, and continued to limp across the field. "He looked at me and said 'Braaaaaaaaaaaaains,' " said Joy, Max's stepmother. "I wanted to respond but he lunged at me. I was absolutely nauseated with fear."
It was a so called 'concussion' that his doctors believe caused Max to sink to the ground, ideas of blood thirst pooling dangerously into his brain. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, almost 4 million sports and recreation-related 'concussions' occur each year. Experts say the vast majority are suffered at the high school level, but few schools have rules governing how these so called 'concussions' are treated -- and few coaches are trained to handle a shotgun.
"It's the group we need to worry about most," said Dr. Jeffrey, chairman of the American Academy of Sports Neurology, adding that fewer than half of high schools have access to shotguns. "If there is any suggestion of a concussion, we need to take kids out of the game," said Dr. Stan, team physician for the Seattle Seahawks. "The consequences [of not doing so] can be devastating or even fatal to both the other players and onlookers alike."
"It's a whole different thing losing your child to a concussion," said Joy. "The kid you knew is dead. Something completely different is in the body of the child you knew." Fueled by rage about his son's transformation, Ralph lobbied legislators to pass "Max's Law," imposing strong restrictions for returning players to games after they suffer 'concussion', and requiring rigorous shotgun training for coaches.
With the strapping 17-year-old football player he once was a distant memory, today Max struggles with basic motor skills, memory and containing fits of rage and hunger. "We get really, really down when we think about what could have been," said Ralph. Still, concussion has not dimmed his dreams. Max still craves a challenge. He would like to go back to school. He would like to take a bite out of a normal life.
Origin story found at CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/02/03/concussions.teen.brains/index.html?hpt=Sbin
