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Darwin Awards
2011 Slush Pile

This item was recently submitted by a reader.
Should I include it in the archive?
Vote to tell me what *you* think!

Brain freeze - not from a popsicle

2011 Reader Submission
Pending Acceptance

A UTAH man had a 90 to 95 percent chance of dying after shattering his skull in more than 10 places until a neurosurgeon removed both sides of his head and froze it.

Kyle Johnson’s brain swelled uncontrollably after he fell off a longboard - essentially a surfboard on wheels - while travelling about 60km/h.

Dr Blake Welling of McKay-Dee Hospital in Utah decided to perform the risky surgery.

“We elected to take Kyle to surgery and remove each side of his head,” Dr Welling told FOXNews.com.

“It’s called a bilateral decompressive craniectomy. It’s something that neurosurgeons do as a last ditch effort.

"It's kind of an eerie type of feeling - so I don't know if I will ever get back to longboarding - but snowboarding for sure," he said.

“Most neurosurgeons do a decompressive craniectomy on one side of the head, where the trauma was.

“In this case, Kyle had such a global brain injury that we needed to take both sides of his head off, and you just leave a small strip of bone right down the middle.”

Although Mr Johnson did not require any real physical therapy, he is currently undergoing cognitive therapy to help with memory loss and things like multi-tasking.

“If you put two color crayons in front of me, say blue and green, I really cannot think of both crayons. I can only think of one at a time and even that is a struggle. So, for therapy, we’ve been doing more mind exercises if you will.”

"It's kind of an eerie type of feeling - so I don't know if I will ever get back to longboarding - but snowboarding for sure," he said.

Submitted on 10/19/2011

Submitted by: Robert Focht
Reference: http://www.news.com.au/technology/doctor-freezes-mans-skull-saves-his-life/story-e6frfro0-1225906616

Copyright © 2011 DarwinAwards.com

>> Moderator Scores <<

Bruce said:
Definitely Toss: Lacks Excellence
Thanks, Robert, but the accident described here doesn't sound all that different from the hundreds of other head injuries that can occur as a result of fast paced sports and a lack of proper safety gear. Accidents like these happen all the time. The only think that makes this story any different is the surgery he underwent after the fact and the fact that it made it into the news. Thanks just the same.


James said:
Definitely Toss: Lacks Excellence
I agree with Brice, but thanks just the same!


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