Aug 26, 2008 6:44 pm US/Eastern
Child Collapses, Dies At Football Practice In N.J.
WALDWICK, N.J. (CBS) ―
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An 8th grader in the Waldwick school district collapsed and died during football practice on Monday afternoon.
CBS
A New Jersey community remains stunned after an apparently healthy young football player suddenly died while practicing with his team on the day of his birthday.
Sean Fisher collapsed on the football field outside Waldwick High School while doing warm-up exercises with his Waldwick Recreational teammates Monday night. Witnesses say the boy, who was celebrating his 13th birthday, collapsed so quickly he wasn't even able to extend his arms to protect himself.
"It was just a few minutes of a warm-up and they weren't into a heavy practice and there wasn't any contact force," said Dr. Robert Penna, Waldwick Schools Superintendent. "He was just standing there and fell forward."
A father, who also happens to be a paramedic, rushed to give him CPR, and other EMTs used a defibrillator, but they were unable to revive Fisher.
It's not yet clear what caused the eighth grader's sudden death.
"It was like a freak accident," said Fisher's friend Nick Oravetz. "You don't expect something like this to happen. He didn't really deserve this to happen to him."
Fisher's friends have set up a MySpace page dedicated to him.
"He was just a really nice guy," said Joey Sciortino, one of Fisher's friends.
And he was by all accounts a regular 13-year-old boy who liked to play video games and football. Any health problems he may have had are not known.
Other young athletes from a nearby high school admit they worry about overheating and injuries despite their age.
"You're so tired and you're just so focused on finishing that workout you don't think, 'Oh, this might hurt me in the long run,'" said Samantha Laddin, a Ridgewood High School student athlete. "You just focus on now."
An autopsy is being performed on Fisher to figure out why he died. Even though school isn't in session, grief counselors were brought to the school in case parents and students need someone to talk to.
CBS 2's Dr. Max Gomez says although it's not known what caused Fisher's death, there are only a few things that can lead to this kind of sudden death.
The most likely is some sort of heart condition, such as an undetected arrhythmia, a heart muscle abnormality, or a valve or structural deformity.
Other less common problems can be an aneurysm in a major blood vessel, usually the chest or brain in youngsters, or something called an AVM – a congenital malformation of blood vessels in the brain.
Either can burst without warning.
Fortunately, the condition is very rare, but it does happen. Some school districts require a full physical, including an electro-cardiogram to look for potential heart problems.
Aneurysms and AVMs are uncommon and expensive to detect.
It's unlikely schools or parents would look for them routinely, unless there was some reason for suspicion, such as a family history.
Dr. Max Gomez contributed to this story.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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