Local football player in ICU after serious injury

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Local football player in ICU after serious injury
By Bill Kolb
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
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WALNUT CREEK -- Mt. Diablo High School junior Phil Luckens was in serious condition Thursday in the intensive care unit at John Muir Medical Center after suffering a spinal injury during football practice Wednesday.

Luckens reportedly was participating in tackling drills at the school when the injury occurred.

"He's suffered a serious compression of his fifth cervical vertebrae," said Derek Malley, a registered nurse who was attending to Luckens in the ICU. "His vitals are stable, but there is some swelling around the spinal cord. He's been in and out of consciousness. He was on a ventilator to help him breathe until about 4 a.m. (Thursday). Then we took him off."

Luckens was put back on a ventilator around 6:30 p.m. Thursday night.

"He was doing fine on his own," Malley said. "But then he just got a little tired and needed some more help."

Luckens is able to move his arms above his head, but as of 7 p.m. Thursday he showed no signs of movement below his waist, according to Malley.

"This injury is similar to what happens when you dive into a shallow pool," Malley said. "It's as though someone dropped a huge weight on his head. The spine has just been badly compressed."

According to Luckens' older brother, Nathan, Phil has played football since he was 9 years old, and had planned to play wide receiver and safety this season for the Red Devils. Nathan Luckens would not comment further.

Jim Campbell, risk manager for the Mt. Diablo Unified School District, was contacted for a clearer picture of exactly what happened to Luckens.

"It was a spinal cord injury that happened during a tackling drill at football practice," Campbell said. "He was transported to the hospital. There is no prognosis yet. We're still trying to research it ourselves. I don't know yet because the doctors haven't told us anything, but there is the possibility of paralysis."

"We're very concerned about him," Mt. Diablo athletics director Milt Panagotacos said. "As far as we're concerned, everything was done right by the coaching staff."

Further details as to how the injury occurred were not made available by the football coaching staff, players, school or district administrators.

Luckens' injury comes 14 months after Las Lomas player Ted Bornstein suffered a severe head injury after colliding with a teammate during a summer workout. Bornstein didn't play last year.

At the recent American Orthopedic Society's Sports Medicine 2001 Seminar, Joseph C. Maroon, a professor in the Department of Neurological Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh, as well as team physician for the Pittsburgh Steelers for more than 18 years, addressed the issue of spinal cord injuries.

According to Maroon, of the approximately 10,000 spinal cord injuries per year in the United States, 10 percent are sports related.

Annually, approximately 40 football players at all levels experience spinal injuries, Maroon said.