This
past week I had the privilege of sitting down with Samantha Villa to talk about
October 14, 2011. For those of you who
do not know, Samantha was working a high school football game versus Carlsbad
High School as the athletic trainer for La Costa Canyon High School that night. The game was a typical high school football
game when Sam Casinelli went to make a tackle on an opposing player and ended
up face down on the field.
One…
Two… Three… and Sam has not tried to get up.
At this point Samantha ran out onto the field along with her team
physicians to assess the situation. Sam
was conscious and complaining of neck pain, but was able to wiggle his fingers
and toes. He did admit to having numbness
and tingling in both arms at the time of the hit. Given this information, Samantha made the
decision to spineboard Sam. An ambulance
was called during this time, since there wasn’t one on site and he was
transported to the nearest trauma center.
At the
hospital Sam’s x-ray revealed two fractured vertebrae in his neck. Shortly, thereafter more testing showed
damage to ligaments that stabilize the vertebrae as well, leading to surgery to
repair this damage. Sam was in the
hospital for about a week and out of school for about 11 weeks. Sam went through a rigorous rehabilitation
process, but did not require a halo brace during his recovery.
During
this time, Sam and the family expressed their thanks to Samantha Villa as the
athletic trainer and all the other health professionals involved in Sam’s
treatment and recovery. Neurosurgeon
Sanjay Ghosh, M.D. wrote the following in a letter to La Costa High School and
those involved in Sam’s care with the permission of the family:
“It is
my opinion that if Sam had suffered at most 10lbs more of force during his
injury, this would have rendered him permanently partially quadriplegic. Furthermore, if it were not for the great
attention to detail of the first responders in the field, I am quite certain
that we would have had the same catastrophic result. You and your staff are to be commended for
attending to him in such a manner and recognizing the serious nature of his
injury, as your care and attention clearly had a profound impact on this young
man’s life.”
At the
time of his injury, Sam was a junior at La Costa High School. He is now a
thriving senior there who no longer plays football, but continues to be a key
member of the school’s baseball team. In
fact, Sam was able to play baseball last spring (2012), just several months
after his injury. Sam was also a
student-coach as a member of the football team this past fall, giving him the
opportunity to continue to support his teammates. For her part, the California Athletic Trainers’ Association (CATA) recognized athletic trainer Samantha
Villa for her actions that evening with the Save A Life Award. Her colleague Christina Scherr, who is also
an athletic trainer in the San Dieguito UHSD nominated her.
If you
know Samantha take the time this March to thank her for being an athletic
trainer, after all it is National Athletic Training Month. If Samantha isn’t your athletic trainer, but
you have one at your high school, be sure to take the time to thank him or her,
you never know when he or she may be the one to save your life.
Submitted by Heather L. Clemons, MS, MBA, ATC
No comments:
Post a Comment