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American Morning

Illinois Youth Dies After Football Practice

Aired September 05, 2002 - 08:42   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: A new study out now reinforcing the benefits of walking and suggesting that it is just as beneficial as other exercise.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta here to walk us through that in our "House Call" -- good to see you, doc. Good morning to you.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good to see you, Bill.

HEMMER: Before we get to that, a 10-year-old girl in Illinois apparently dying after football practice -- she was on a boys' team obviously. What happened in this story, after she complained apparently of a headache? Taylor Davison is her name -- Sanjay.

GUPTA: Yes, this is a tragic story, no question, Bill. It appears that last Tuesday, August 27, she actually collapsed -- or had a headache after being blocked vigorously during a football practice. Nothing particularly unordinary, though, according to the people that witnessed that. She, in fact, continued to play, had a little bit of a headache.

Friday, three days later, apparently, she had a much more severe headache. That was after she, again, was at football practice. This time complaining of a severe headache, actually threw up, which is a significant point as well. That probably was the first indicator that not only was this headache a significant one, but also was causing some pressure on the brain. She was taken to the hospital, Bill, at that point. By the time she got to the hospital, we are hearing that her pupils were actually large and dilated. Again, that is an important point. That means there was significant brain compression from what appeared to be a blood clot. She underwent an emergency operation there in Chicago, but it was pretty late in the game for that, and as we've heard, she died on Monday just five days, six days after the initial injury.

What it sounds like, Bill, was that it was something known as a subdural hematoma, a blood clot underneath the surface of the brain. This is something that can cause a lot of pressure. We talked about this recently with the two conjoined twins in L.A. Same sort of thing here. This one was not recognized for several days. It sounded like about six days after it happened before she died. So pretty tragic, although pretty rare thing as well.

HEMMER: Rare indeed. Sanjay, let's talk about walking, on another topic here. We'll lighten it up just a little bit. A new study says what, about hitting the sidewalk? GUPTA: Well, I will tell you, everyone knows that walking is certainly good for you, that is no new news there. But just how good is it? A lot of people always ask me, how much should you walk? Is walking briskly better than walking less briskly, things like that. Well, a new study looked at those very questions. Some interesting things, actually, Bill. If you walk for about 30 minutes a day, five times a week, that is what the recommendations are, you are going to get just as much benefit as someone who jogs about 8.5 minute miles, about a mile. So if you're walking 15 minutes at a time even, twice a day, that is going to give you pretty significant benefits. Everybody knows the benefits of walking, certainly things like reduced heart attacks and strokes, obesity, blood pressure, all of those sorts of things. The question of how much, how frequent, all those sort of things are being answered more by this study.

HEMMER: See you on the treadmill soon.

GUPTA: That is right. Not your six-minute miles, though. That's pretty vigorous.

HEMMER: Thank you, Sanjay. Dr. Sanjay Gupta in our "House Call" today.

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