High School Football Player Victim of 'Second Impact Syndrome'

PHOTO: Cody Lehe was 18 when he suffered Second Injury Syndrome. Nearly six years later, he still struggles with short term memory and cant walk without help.Courtesy Becky Lehe
Cody Lehe was 18 when he suffered Second Impact Syndrome. Nearly six years later, he still struggles with short term memory and can't walk without help.


After taking a shoulder hit during practice, Cody, now 23, became a victim of what doctors call Second Impact Syndrome. His teammates thought he was having a seizure, but he was actually falling into a coma, with massive brain swelling and an irregular heartbeat. It's been six years since that day, and Cody lives with his parents outside Lafayette, Ind., where he struggles to recall things that happened hours earlier and can no longer walk on his own.

"I think the biggest thing is we have got to get the kids to understand to listen to their bodies," Cody's mother, Becky Lehe, told ABCNews.com. "I think he had this discussion with himself, saying, 'I feel like crap, but my CT scan is fine, so I'll play.'"

Second Impact Syndrome, or SIS, has a 90 percent mortality rate, said Dr. Michael Turner, who led a case study on Cody that was published today in the Journal of Neurosurgery. Of the 30 SIS cases in medical literature, Turner said it always happens to high-school or college-aged people. He's never seen SIS in a professional football player.








But everything was fine.


After 55 days in the intensive care unit -- his football jersey number -- Cody was transferred to rehabilitation section of the hospital, where he would stay but was not well enough to participate in any activities. He left the hospital after 98 days, having suffered temporary cardiac arrest, hypotension, pneumonia, renal failure and sepsis. He could not walk or talk.




Cody's case shows that athletes need to get off the playing field if they've had head injuries, Turner said. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has released guidelines suggesting that players with signs of concussion should be removed from play and not return until they have permission from their doctor and show no symptoms with exertion.

In August 2011, 22-year-old Derek Sheely died one week after collapsing at football practice at Frostburg State University, where he was a starting fullback. His uncontrollable brain swelling led doctors and his father to believe it was SIS.

An estimated 1.7 million people receive a traumatic brain injury, which includes concussions, each year, according to the CDC.

"We have this gladiator mentality out there," Becky said. "'Be tough.' 'Hang in there.' 'Take one for the team.' We've got to change."