Teen, family reach settlement for brain injury
Nearly three years ago, Zack Lystedt suffered a concussion on the football field while making a tackle for his his team at Mount Tahoma Junior High.
Even though the 13 year old grabbed his head in pain, his coaches, who had been hired by the district, put him back in the game several plays later.
Lystedt's brain began bleeding, but no one noticed until he started losing his balance near the end of the game. He eventually collapsed at the end of the game.
He fell into a coma for weeks, and underwent two emergency brain surgeries. Nine months passed before he could talk again, and the teen, now wheelchair-bound, has been undergoing therapy non-stop ever since.
"He's beyond measure with his perseverance when it comes to this obstacle," said Victor Lystedt.
But on Wednesday, the teen, now 16, and his family finally got some relief. They reached a settlement with the Tahoma School District for an undisclosed amount that, according to Lystedts' attorneys, will cover all of the teen's medical needs.
And Zack Lystedt is eager to fight his way back to recovery.
"There's a lot of pressure to get better, and I'm going to keep getting better," he said.
But the teen's ordeal has already changed local sports.
In May, Gov. Chris Gregoire signed the nation's toughest return-to-play law, which has been named the Zack Lystedt law.
It forces all young athletes of all sports who suffer head injuries to get written permission from a licensed medical professional, either a trainer or doctor, before they're allowed back on the playing field. The catch phrase of the law -- when in doubt, sit it out.
"Coaches shouldn't have to make those decisions," said Zack Lystedt.
And Harborview Medical Center has opened the first-ever sports concussion clinic, inspired by the teen's story.
More than 3.5 million sports-related concussions occur each year in the United States, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Brain Injury Association of Washington.
The Brain Injury Association, the CDC and the NFL's Seattle Seahawks are partnering on an education program for concussion awareness in Washington. That effort has included the distribution of youth league coach clipboards that have information on head injuries and concussions on the back.
Other states, such as neighboring Oregon, have proposed or established laws mandating annual concussion training for coaches in youth sports.
Washington's law takes that effort a step further by including that training, then regulating the return of players who have sustained a head injury.