European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 28, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse By Mary Chanson the Milwaukee journal James Hagen Speaks haltingly about the bicycle Accident he had in october 1990, just after he turned 13 a but he wants other kids to know about it. Quot i was Riding my 10-Speed Down the Road with my friends. I was Riding pretty fast because it was getting dark and i was going Home. Then my gears jammed my Bike Chain came off and i went Over the handlebars and hit the Quot head first Quot his father Jack says Quot he was in a coma for some six Respirator tube feedings. They said he d be nothing but a vegetable and wanted me to just let him go. But i could t do it. Could you do that to your son. Quot i just bawled. Shortly after that he came out of the at age 16, he attends a Junior High now his dad says. Quot he s doing third and fourth Grade work and getting straight As because he s trying so hard. But hell never get much better than he is now. The brain damage is Why did t James Wear a Bike helmet that Day Quot i thought it was nerdy to Wear a helmet Quot James says flatly. Quot i found out it was what would he say to other kids who complain that a Bike helmet messes up their hair is too hot and sweaty or just looks Dorky Quot Wear it anyways because you can die from Bike accidents Man. I almost did. So close to dying. A helmet will protect your brain. Mine was damaged. I Don t ride anymore. My sister does t ride anymore a i think because of when you talk brain injury you re talking permanent damage says Mark Klingbeil director of brain injury rehabilitation and paediatric rehabilitation at Milwaukee s sacred heart rehabilitation Hospital. Quot it s not like a broken Bone or anything else that can happen where things heal Quot Klingbeil says. Quot brain tissue does t regenerate. When you lose brain cells they Don t grow Back. You be lost function and brain tissue and that s permanent. You May be Able to adapt to those deficits and learn to do things in another Way but it will never never be the yet Only 5 percent of the children who ride bikes in this country Wear helmets he says. And every year you could fill a stadium with the kids 14 and younger who suffer head injuries. Quot and it s so preventable Quot Klingbeil says. Quot Bike helmets could prevent 85 percent of those head injuries and.88 percent of the brain injuries. It s such a simple and inexpensive Way to prevent this common and irreversible form of parents simply have to take charge says Mark. Widome professor of paediatrics at Pennsylvania state University in Hershey. Quot it s characteristic of child development that As they get into the older grades kids tend not to think about the future or about the consequences of their actions. They know accidents happen to other people but think it won t happen to me. I m special Invulnerable. Quot adults on the other hand have a different problem they think of themselves As helpless. If their number is up it s up. They tend to think injuries Are governed by Fate rather than by the things we do and Don t do. But it s not like that at All. Bicycle helmets Are enormously effective in preventing brain we have to work together if we re going to generate the solid Community Effort required to increase helmet use says Jeni Wincek a clinical nurse specialist at the trauma and injury prevention Center of children s Hospital of Wisconsin. Quot with the child s first big wheels a make it part of the gear. First Bike first helmet. It s much harder to try sure your child wears a helmet introduce a helmet when kids Are older. But we Haven t done a Good Job of communicating to parents about the seriousness of these . Just last year children s Hospital treated 407 kids for Bike injuries on an outpatient basis Wincek says and 24 percent of those had some form of head injury. Quot in addition to those 54 kids were admitted because of injuries serious enough to require hospitalization a and half of them had head injuries. Quot our bodies Aren t crash proof a Wincek says. Quot they were built to tolerate speeds up to the Speed we can run. The Rule of thumb is that if you re going faster than you could run your body typically can t handle the pressure of an Impact at that Speed a and that includes skateboards and roller Blades. Quot the heaviest part of a child s body is the head a and that s what propels Forward during a fall. Kids Are much More Likely to hit their Heads than adults during a fall. Parents need to know that you Are not the same after a head fact that Many parents did t Wear Bike helmets when they were Young adds to the problem says Cindy Sellon manager of the head injury program at sacred heart rehabilitation Hospital. But she Points out How things have changed since then. A bikes Are More advanced than the balloon tire beaters Many of us grew up with. They re bigger and go faster a especially off Road bikes. There s Morei Raffic. Quot and head injuries Are a relatively new thing Quot she says. Quot Twenty years ago people died at the scene or within 24 hours. Now with medical advances More kids survive with severe impairments. We can do a lot to keep them alive a but it s a life with what kind that s Tough to predict she says because our brains float inside our skulls suspended and cushioned in cerebral fluid a severe Impact can cause them to literally Bounce Back and Forth off the Skull Bones causing diffuse damage a bruises bleeding. But people with even minor injuries May have problems returning to everyday activities. Quot while physical impairments Are fairly common they re also usually the first to get better a Sellon says. Quot it s the Subtle cognitive and behavioural problems that May remain and can be most difficult for people. Memory and behaviour problems saying inappropriate things difficulty concentrating personality changes learning difficulties. We re learning now that some of these things Don t even show up until years critical care specialist Carl Weigle medical director of the intermediate intensive care unit at children s Hospital and assistant professor of paediatrics at the a medical College of Wisconsin says Quot every year we see. Kids with significant brain injuries who either die or have lasting brain damage because of not wearing a Bike summer months Are a Peak time for injuries. So Are the Ages 11 to 14, he says during which kids have Quot lots of skill very Little it s also one of the hardest times to combat peer pressure. It s a time to take the hard line Weigle does with his kids Quot if you ride a Bike Wear a helmet. If you re not going to Wear a helmet have a Nice walk. distributed by Scripps Howard news service is s v i Ltd a a St Quot these youngsters in Aschaffenbur Germany Are Riding the Safe Way a with helmets. A amps Michael Abrams july 28, 1994 stripes Magazine 5
