The 2½-year-old girl who suffered a skull fracture when hit in the head by a foul ball at an Astros game May 29 continues to be treated for a brain injury that has left her at lasting risk for seizures, an attorney representing the girl’s family said.
Attorney Richard Mithoff, who represents the child’s family, said the girl continues to receive anti-seizure medication more than seven months after she was struck by a line drive off the bat of Chicago Cubs player Albert Almora at Minute Maid Park.
“She (the child) has an injury to a part of the brain, and it is permanent,” Mithoff said. “She remains subject to seizures and is on medication and will be, perhaps, for the rest of her life. That may or may not be resolved.”
Mithoff said the child’s brain injury has affected her central nervous system in a manner that doctors described as being equivalent to a stroke. Areas of the brain affected, he said, include those in which injuries can result in seizures, loss of sensation and loss of spatial awareness.
Doctors and the child’s parents say other results of the injury include staring spells, periods of unresponsiveness, night terrors and frequent headaches.
“They (doctors) say this is consistent with the kind of injury she suffered,” the attorney said.
Mithoff said doctors have been unable to determine if the child, who turned 2 years old in May, has cognitive deficits as a result of the brain injury and skull fracture. She was struck in the back of the head while sitting in her grandfather’s lap along the third-base line in the ballpark’s lower bowl.
“She is able to continue with much of her routine as a girl her age would do, but her parents have to be particularly vigilant, as they are,” they attorney added. “She has wonderful parents and is receiving wonderful care. They obviously are concerned, but she is blessed with a family that is doing relatively well, considering everything.”
See here, here, and here for the background. I have a hard time just reading these stories; I cannot imagine what the family is going through. All 30 MLB ballparks will now feature extended netting, which is both welcome and overdue, and will hopefully greatly reduce the odds of further injury like this. I know some people don’t like that, and that this will reduce the viewing experience for them. All I can say is that the alternative is not acceptable. Let no one else suffer the way this little girl has suffered.
Are the Astros going to cover the medical bills? That would be the right thing to do, and a bit of good juju to offset all the bad juju they inflicted on themselves. I know there’s the disclaimer that fans are supposed to be alert for foul balls in those seats, but imagine you’re in that grandfather’s place- it’s not easy to mind a young child and fend off the line drive foul balls. I’ve sat in those seats and have seen just how hard and fast they can come in. Extending the netting was long overdue; fans can still catch the foul pop ups and the view behind the netting is just fine (I’ve sat in those seats too).