Comments on: Brain surgery survivor Ryan Westmoreland retires at age 22

By: janessa31888

janessa31888 — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 13:23:45 +0000

Can someone tell me what a cavernous malformation is? It sounds ominous, but Ive never heard that term before. I had unexplained seizures for years and know how frightening it is when your brain goes on the blink.

By: polonelmeagrejr

polonelmeagrejr — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 11:26:10 +0000

You can’t imagine how challenging it is to have something like that atttack your brain. Even after a year of successful recovery there is stilll a lurking issue with integrating your “new”self with the “old” one. THe good news seems to be that he doesn’t have cancer. Good luck, fella.

By: badintent

badintent — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 06:13:19 +0000

They’re usually idiots that have had former sandbox fights on HBTwith same said bloggettes and think that by posting thumbs down they can score points. The usual suspects, Unibombers types, cops that eat women,Arodless, North Korean politicians, etc……….

By: neveraboutveracity

neveraboutveracity — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 02:20:04 +0000

I really feel for him. As several on this board have mentioned, the hope is that he will be able to live a fulfilling life. Even though his statement showed tremendous optimism and maturity, it must be so difficult to keep from wondering to himself what kind of player he might have become. If that happened to me, I would probably dwell on that to the point of obsession. I wish him all the best in coming to peace with this.

By: hockeyflow33

hockeyflow33 — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 01:53:03 +0000

It’s great that he’s healthy.

What a decisions to decide to go pro instead of college. He was given all the best medical care in the world at basically no cost and still received $2 million. At least he was able to make this horrendous situation into a positive.

By: atlrod

atlrod — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 01:22:23 +0000

I think your question has applied the appropriate title for them. I don’t know that I need any information beyond that.

By: offseasonblues

offseasonblues — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 23:37:25 +0000

“… he’s still a 22-year-old with a bright future ahead of him”

Bright indeed. Go Ryan!

By: tfbuckfutter

tfbuckfutter — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 22:47:41 +0000

Thanks.

By: mianfr

mianfr — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 22:19:24 +0000

Absolute shame for this to happen to anyone, glad to see he’s resolute in his decision.

Hope to hear good things about him in an SI “Where are they now?” issue in a few years.

By: gmfw7

gmfw7 — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 22:08:49 +0000

jeff randazzo, a philly kid, was drafted by the twins in the late 90′s or 2000. in ’02 he and a teammate were driving to florida for spring training and got into a serious car accident. randazzo fractured his sternum, had a collapsed lung, and had other injuries. he never rebounded and was out of baseball soon after. he took his money and opened a sports training facility in delaware county, pa called Maple Zone, which is one of the nicest and most popular place to train in the area. Just thought i’d share a good story about an athlete who faced a catastrophic injury and was able to be successful in another area of life. best wishes to ryan in the future.

By: senioreditor2

senioreditor2 — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 21:08:05 +0000

Q: Do players get health insurance?
A: Minor league players are fully enrolled, at no cost to themselves unless they have dependents, in the minor league insurance program from the time they report after signing. Players are also covered under the laws of the Worker’s Compensation Act for injuries while playing.

By: jwbiii

jwbiii — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 21:04:41 +0000

Yeah, that sounds like the most positive scenario.

By: 2077james

2077james — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 20:57:02 +0000

Who are the dickheads that are thumbing these comments down?

By: Kevin S.

Kevin S. — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 20:55:46 +0000

Most kids that sign out of high school have language in their contracts that has the team pay for them to return to school if they wash out of baseball.

By: sneschalmers

sneschalmers — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 20:50:21 +0000

Well, he already had 2 surgeries to address the issue, so I’m not sure what you’re trying to get at. It’s not like a surgical intervention is new to him, and he hasn’t given any indication that his condition has worsened since the second surgery.

I believe the reason he had to retire (this is just speculation and extrapolation based on my experience working on an inpatient physical rehab unit) is that the brain stem is very important for motor coordination and sensory perception/feedback, and any procedure done in that area of the brain will negatively affect those abilities. To play a professional sport, you need an extreme amount of motor coordination and sensory abilities; these guys are at the far, far, far right of the normal distribution curve. Westmoreland almost certainly can’t operate on that level now, but that doesn’t mean he can’t live a normal-semi-normal life.

It’s hard to say without more info, but I don’t see any reason in his statement to suggest he is declining neurologically.

By: thebadguyswon

thebadguyswon — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 20:38:30 +0000

Best of luck to the young man.

By: jwbiii

jwbiii — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 20:24:50 +0000

Not such good news here, I’m afraid

“When patients present with recurrent hemorrhage, progressive neurologic deterioration, or intractable epilepsy, then treatment in the form of surgery should be considered.”

http://neurosurgery.mgh.harvard.edu/neurovascular/v-w-94-2.htm

By: tfbuckfutter

tfbuckfutter — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 20:09:16 +0000

I don’t know.

They aren’t in the union I don’t think.

By: drewzducks

drewzducks — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 20:06:09 +0000

Was fortunate to see him play in Lowell that summer and there was a definite buzz around him. Just happy to hear that he’s doing well and wish him nothing but the best.

By: agelardi

agelardi — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 20:05:01 +0000

Is it wrong to assume that pro players get insurance through their teams, just like us regular joe employees?

By: agelardi

agelardi — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 20:03:25 +0000

Or use it to open up a baseball school/camp. Don’t need college to have a happy life.

By: tfbuckfutter

tfbuckfutter — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 19:59:00 +0000

$2,000,000 isn’t a bad nest egg for a 22 year old to start a life.

Unless of course he didn’t have health insurance in which case a hospital somewhere has the vast majority of that signing bonus.

Hopefully he will find more longevity in his next career.

By: justthepeanutgallery

justthepeanutgallery — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 19:48:58 +0000

I rooted for this young man like I rooted for my own children. Good luck in all that you do Ryan

By: blues1988

blues1988 — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 19:47:02 +0000

i always wonder what people like this do. he skipped college to play baseball, so i guess his only option is to take that 2 mil and put it towards college? i assume he got to keep that money or am i wrong? glad he’s healthy and got such a good outlook on it, good luck to him!

By: zachcomtois

zachcomtois — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 19:41:02 +0000

Such a sad story. I hope that he can move forward and live a normal life, and I hope that this isn’t an issue for him ever again.

By: 13arod

13arod — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 19:40:48 +0000

Glad he is healthy but sadly he had to retire

By: jarathen

jarathen — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 19:22:51 +0000

Glad he has his health and a positive outlook. Must be a very difficult thing to go through.

By: uyf1950

uyf1950 — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 19:22:49 +0000

What can anyone say, other then to wish him the very best.