Cornell lax player collapses

[DeltaOne81]

I just came back from the lacrosse game which ended with 2:33 remaining after a player, apparently named George, collapsed on the field. The score was 9-6 Cornell at the time. I'm pretty sure it was a guy who had just gotten smacked by the ball pretty hard - #21, George something - he jogged around for a minute and then collapsed. The players cleared the field and the doctors and emergency staff worked on him for several minutes before being put into an ambulence and driven away. CPR was done, I think defibulation, apparently unsuccessfully. The player shoot hands and walked off the field with the game unfinished.

I'm still in shock.

If anyone went to the game on my recommendation, I feel I owe some kind of apology for you having witnessed that. My prayers are with him, but I don't think they did any good.

[peterg]

The player was senior defenseman George Boiardi.  The last I heard (about 6:45 pm) he was at Cayuga Medical Center where doctors were determining whether he should be medivac-ed out to another facility.  

I don't have any medical details, other than having seen the trainers and ambulance crew administer CPR and bring the defibrillator onto the field.  For what it is worth, when placed in the ambulance an IV was in place.  The ambulance did leave with sirens.  From the sense of the people around the player and team, the situation for George is dire.

As far as I know the team was still together in the locker room and planning to be there until they had some further word.

[ben03]

As a friend of Georges I am in total shock right now ... I can only ask that you all say some sort of prayer for him.

[hike]

What is a defibrulator used for?  Getting breathing started again?

[hike]

I'm sorry to report this, but George Boiardi has passed away.

May our prayers be with him and his family.

[Brian]

I am an avid Cornell hockey fan that is a current student at Binghamton University (the opponent).  I will post the reaction of the Binghamton players when they become available.  My thoughts and prayers go out to the family and the Cornell lacrosse family.

[Rob NH]

OMG, simply horrible. My prayers to his family and friends.

[Micaela]

The heart, for a number of reasons, can get into a very bad rhythm called ventricular fibrillation.  Instead of the ventricle squeezing in a smooth stroke to pump blood, it just jitters and spasms in a disorganized fashion.  This means very little blood gets pumped, and invariably leads to death if not reversed.  A defibrillator attempts to restore normal rhythm by delivering an electrical shock to the heart.  (This is the machine with the paddles in ER where everyone yells "clear.")  

Micaela

[jy3]

this is simply aweful. my prayers go out to his family and friends.

[David Harding]

A defibrillator is for the heart.  When the heart muscles get mixed up and start firing randomly instead of synchronously, it's called fibrillation.  A defibrillator applies a high voltage at a suitable frequency, trying to overpower the spontaneous firing and get things going together again.   These used to required a well trained user, but recently defibrillators have become available that can monitor the heart activity and control the voltage and the frequency appropriately.  These are being placed in many public places, as the first few minutes after a heart attack are critical.

I don't know anything about this case except what I've read here, but a hard blow to the chest at just the wrong moment in the heart cycle can disrupt the heart's rhythm and be fatal.  It happens more frequently when a batter is hit in the chest with a pitched baseball, but I can easily imagine that happening with a lacrosse ball.

[Rosey]

That's terrible news.  I'll bet no one thought this would happen when they got up this morning. ::demented::  Life occasionally decides it wants to slug you when you aren't looking, and things like this happen.  My thoughts are with his family and friends.

[hike]

Thanks for the explanations, guys.  Very upset to hear about this.

[Rob NH]

The OCSN recap just mentions "The game was called with 2:33 to play in the fourth quarter after a Big Red player was injured." Doesn't mention Boiardi by name or have any further updates (yet).

EDIT: The Binghamton Athletics page doesn't mention the incident or the game being called early, just a brief write up on the loss.

[Will]

This is so sad.  My condolences to his friends and family.

[peterg]

Some more information is at this site:

http://news10now.com/content/all_news/?ArID=13665&SecID=83