Force of block to chest likely killed N.C. football player

The force of a block to the chest likely caused the death of a Reynolds High School football player, the chairman of neurosurgery at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center said yesterday.

Matt Gfeller, 15, died Sunday from injuries received Friday from what Reynolds officials called “a routine football play” during the fourth quarter of the season opener against Greensboro Page.

Dr. Charles Branch Jr., who operated on Gfeller, said that the force of the blow likely whipped Gfeller’s head backward, causing both a key blood vessel to tear and the brain to swell.

The odds of the force from the block causing Gfeller’s death were “at least 100 million to one,“ Branch said.

A state medical examiner is expected to perform an autopsy on Gfeller at Baptist.

Branch said that the efforts by trainers and physicians at the field to try to stabilize Gfeller “were absolutely the right thing to do.“

“Within minutes of the injury, Matt was in serious trouble,“ Branch said. “It is likely he had a lethal injury from the outset.“

Gfeller is the first football player to die from a head injury in North Carolina since 1981, according to Dr. Frederick Mueller, the director of the National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research in Chapel Hill.

However, other types of deaths are not uncommon. The center has tracked college and high-school football injuries across the country since 1931. During that time span, a fatality directly related to football has happened every year, except for one, 1990.

“Most direct fatalities usually occur during regularly scheduled games,“ Mueller said.

According to the center, there were about 1.8 million football players at all levels in the United States during 2007.

There were four reported deaths involving direct contact - three in high school and an indoor professional league. Two died from a brain injury, one died from a spinal-cord injury and one died from internal injuries. There also were nine non-contact deaths, primarily heart or heart related.

“If you figure that the average player takes hundreds of hits every season during practice and during games, you can see that the odds of something tragic like this happening are extreme,“ Branch said.

“That, of course, is little comfort to Matt’s family, his teammates and coaches, and everyone involved.“

Gfeller’s death cast a somber mood over the Reynolds campus during the first day of school yesterday, which would have been Gfeller’s first day at the school as well.

Classmates hung and signed banners, some including sayings from Gfeller. Others wore handmade T-shirts bearing Gfeller’s uniform number of No. 57. Students from other schools joined Reynolds in writing “57” on their hand or cheek.

“Fifty-seven seemed to be everywhere today as the students expressed their care and thoughts for Matt and his family,“ said David Small, an assistant principal at Reynolds.

Gfeller was the second high-school football player to die in North Carolina this season,.

Atlas Fraley, a senior at Chapel Hill High School died after practice on Aug. 12. The News & Observer of Raleigh has reported that investigators are trying to determine if Fraley died from dehydration after participating in an early morning scrimmage.

Branch said that the whip-like motion of Gfeller’s head likely caused bruising and swelling of the brain from the rapid acceleration and deceleration of the brain within the brain cavity.

Dr. Lee Kirsch, the team doctor for Reynolds, said that “you don’t have to get hit in the head to get a head injury. It creates a concussive effect where the brain is bouncing around the skull.“

Branch said that the force of the blow also likely tore a cortical vein, which serves to drain blood from the brain. The tearing of the blood vessel led to a blood clot on the surface of Gfeller’s brain.

Because blood could not drain, the blood coming into the brain from an artery had no place to go, Branch said. The brain was also swelling at the base of the skull.

“That likely served to further cut off the blood supply to the brain, which contributed to a loss of basic brain functions and breathing,“ Branch said.

Branch said he and his colleagues will learn from Gfeller’s death on treating sports-related trauma injuries, particularly for younger athletes.

“One of the reasons why there is support for the Childress Institute is helping to handle cases like this,“ Branch said.

Richard Childress, the NASCAR team owner and founder of Childress Vineyards, and his family donated $5 million as seed money last month toward the creation of a pediatric-trauma institute at Baptist. The goal is to raise $47 million over three years through corporate and individual donations.

The aim of the Childress Institute for Pediatric Trauma is providing emergency first responders and pediatric doctors to care for children dealing with a potentially life-threatening injury to an organ or limb.

“Sometimes, medical advancements come out of personal tragedies,“ Branch said.

Richard Craver can be reached at 727-7376 or at .

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Winston-Salem Foundation, 860 W. Fifth St., Winston-Salem, NC 27101 for the Matthew Alan Gfeller Memorial Fund. A mass will be held at 4 p.m. Wednesday at Holy Family Catholic Church in Clemmons.

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