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Reynolds - Brown Sidelined for the rest of the season
For the doctors on the board - Is this similar at all to Nick Knapp's heart issues of about a decade ago?
For those who don't know, Knick Knapp was a star basketball player at Woodruff who had accepted a full ride scholarship offer to play at Northwestern (along with Pekin's Matt Moran). Over the summer prior to heading to Northwestern, Knapp collapsed while playing open gym in Peoria, and luckily was able to be resuscitated and taken to the hospital. His condition was diagnosed, and I believe he had a pacemaker or some instrument inserted to shock his heart back into rhythm if necessary. Unfortunately for Nick, Northwestern rescinded his scholarship, and he ended up playing basketball at Northeastern Illinois University in their final days of intercollegiate athletics (the school folded its entire athletic program in 1998 ).
I always wondered that too..
Nick had an extremely quick release.
Another question on this would be what percentage of high level athletes have this irregular heart
I'm sure it is completely unrelated but seems interesting..
Per Wikipedia, Secretariat (an ESPN top 100 "athlete") was estimated to have a heart 2.5x as large as the average horse.
I don't think Nick had the hypertrophic cardiomyopathy which is more serious. I have no direct knowledge of Nick's case, but I suspect he had recurrent ventricular tachycardia, a potential life-threatening abnormal heart rhythm that can be protected against with an implanted defibrillator. Once implanted, it sometimes allows him to be cleared to play again and live a normal life expectancy.
If a player has the cardiomyopathy, he would never be cleared to play competetive sports again as there would be too much risk. And although a defibrillator is usually implanted to prevent against sudden death from arrhythmias, cardiomyopathy can still progress into heart failure and premature death.
Jim Les deserves a little credit here. He knows his job is on the line, and that theoretically, TB could try to make a return this season if cleared by doctors in February. Jim is not thinking of his own future, but TB's.
I'm pretty sure Jim already knows his own future right now too.
For the doctors on the board - Is this similar at all to Nick Knapp's heart issues of about a decade ago?
For those who don't know, Knick Knapp was a star basketball player at Woodruff who had accepted a full ride scholarship offer to play at Northwestern (along with Pekin's Matt Moran). Over the summer prior to heading to Northwestern, Knapp collapsed while playing open gym in Peoria, and luckily was able to be resuscitated and taken to the hospital. His condition was diagnosed, and I believe he had a pacemaker or some instrument inserted to shock his heart back into rhythm if necessary. Unfortunately for Nick, Northwestern rescinded his scholarship, and he ended up playing basketball at Northeastern Illinois University in their final days of intercollegiate athletics (the school folded its entire athletic program in 1998 ).
That isn't quite the way I remember this. From what I recall and have read here, Northwestern and the Big Ten did not allow Knapp to play for their basketball team, but honored his scholarship with tutoring privileges etc. Personally, I never understood the priorities of his family.
???It??™s awful hard,??™??™ said Illini freshman guard D.J. Richardson, the former Central High School guard who played prep school ball a few miles from here and fought back tears outside the locker room. ???It??™s a hometown thing. It??™s bragging rights.??™
That isn't quite the way I remember this. From what I recall and have read here, Northwestern and the Big Ten did not allow Knapp to play for their basketball team, but honored his scholarship with tutoring privileges etc. Personally, I never understood the priorities of his family. http://classweb.gmu.edu/jkozlows/knapp.htm
Your correct Benn...NW did honor his scholie.....but he could not play ball so Nick and family went another route!
I know this response is going to get the response of that is Hollywood, but on a tv show I used to watch, a kid had HCM and he was given medication that slowed down his heart so it couldn't beat too fast and he was only allowed to play a short amount of time each game. Does something like this actually exist?
There are different degrees of the condition, and different doctors might allow a kid to play sports and take beta blockers, a drug that relaxes and slows the heart. Hank Gathers tried doing that, but the effects of the drug impaired him too much, so he stopped taking them. That's the problem, on the beta blockers, the heart cannot speed up which is necessary for athletic exertion.
In regards to the Nick Knapp case....two comments...and based on observation and what I have heard and read...
--first, the issue hinged on the one statement that Nick's "risks were acceptable" per his team of cardiologists. (this is stated clearly in his lawsuit which can be found online)
BUT -- that's the gray area....acceptable to one person may not be acceptable to another -- so Northwestern deemed the risks not acceptable.
The Reggie Lewis case (the Boston Celtics' guard) is a perfect example...
Lewis found a team of well-known cardiologists who said that Lewis could play and was medically cleared because although there were risks, that the risks were acceptable...
The Celtics felt pressured, backed down and let Lewis play, just as Knapp & his family was suing and pressuring Northwestern to let him play.
Reggie Lewis died suddenly during a practice game...and then even worse...the Lewis family turned on the Celtics and sued them for doing the very thing that Reggie wanted the Celtics do -- to clear him to play!
So I think the courts would be wrong to force a school, such as Northwestern to accept the risks based on someone else's view of what's "acceptable".
In regards to the Nick Knapp case....two comments...and based on observation and what I have heard and read...
--first, the issue hinged on the one statement that Nick's "risks were acceptable" per his team of cardiologists. (this is stated clearly in his lawsuit which can be found online)
BUT -- that's the gray area....acceptable to one person may not be acceptable to another -- so Northwestern deemed the risks not acceptable.
The Reggie Lewis case (the Boston Celtics' guard) is a perfect example...
Lewis found a team of well-known cardiologists who said that Lewis could play and was medically cleared because although there were risks, that the risks were acceptable...
The Celtics felt pressured, backed down and let Lewis play, just as Knapp & his family was suing and pressuring Northwestern to let him play.
Reggie Lewis died suddenly during a practice game...and then even worse...the Lewis family turned on the Celtics and sued them for doing the very thing that Reggie wanted the Celtics do -- to clear him to play!
So I think the courts would be wrong to force a school, such as Northwestern to accept the risks based on someone else's view of what's "acceptable".
Very unfortunate situation. Nick was a great player.
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