# Air Force trainee dies during PT at Lackland



## jonron9937 (May 7, 2015)

http://www.foxsanantonio.com/news/f...uring-pt-at-lackland-12507.shtml#.VUwfCLtFBjo

I saw this article the other day. First, my condolences go out to the family and friends of the trainee. Next, what are the possible causes(not trying to speculate, this just happens in some young athletes as well)? Sudden cardiac arrest (long QT or myopathy)? Heat stroke?
Like I said, this happens in young athletes as well.

Thoughts?


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## x SF med (May 7, 2015)

Not enough info to even speculate on a cause.


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## pardus (May 7, 2015)

I changed the title of this thread to reflect what the content is. You should do so in future.


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## DA SWO (May 7, 2015)

Happens from time to time, doesn't make it less sad (AFA Cadet survived a hear attack last year IIRC).

They will release results in a few months.

I feel for the trainees and hope the AF doesn't pussify them by offering a release from contract.


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## Johca (May 7, 2015)

DA SWO said:


> Happens from time to time, doesn't make it less sad (AFA Cadet survived a hear attack last year IIRC).
> 
> They will release results in a few months.


The results do not get released all the time.   Further while all the time (more times than it should happen) is correct a blind eye given to preexisting medical conditions is seldom emphasized in any press release or article.

Example:  From March 26, 2014 http://www.washingtonpost.com/sport...60426e-b49b-11e3-bab2-b9602293021d_story.html 

Buried in this article is "McKamey had previously suffered a major head injury as a senior at Grace Christian Academy in Knoxville, Tenn, that prematurely ended his high school career."  and "Doctors at the time said he suffered from a ruptured blood vessel and surgery wasn’t required. There were initial fears that his promising football career was over."

Notice no followup or emphasis after March 24, 2014,   http://articles.baltimoresun.com/20...140324-9_1_brain-injury-mckamey-rafi-montalvo  of:

1.  The brain injury Navy slotback Will McKamey suffered Saturday in Annapolis came during a noncontact practice drill, his parents wrote in an email distributed by an athletic department spokesman at the academy Monday

2.  It was the third brain injury for McKamey in the past 18 months. After suffering a concussion early in his senior year at Grace Christian Academy, where his father Randy is the head coach, McKamey returned and later collapsed on the sideline during a late-season game after a two-point-conversion play.

3. after their son suffered a brain injury that required hospitalization but no surgery, he saw "four different neurosurgeons and had 4-6 CAT scans and MRI's to clear him for contact. After his prior incident, he went without any contact for over nine months just to be safe.

4.   Considering that his second injury generated significant media coverage in Knoxville, McKamey and his parents still could have been asked to sign a waiver by the Department of Defense Medical Examination Review Board to allow him to be admitted to the Naval Academy and play football.

It is not known whether that waiver was signed, though The Capital newspaper in Annapolis cited unnamed sources Monday saying that it had. A Naval Academy spokesman said Monday that school officials are not allowed to release information regarding McKamey's application or about whether any waiver was signed.

Number 4 is the critical information as medical history was clear medical disqualification to become a cadet without a medical waiver let alone to me medically cleared to play football as a cadet.  

My perspective is offered more in connection to inference "this just happens in some young athletes as well" in correlation to the inference has presumption young athletes are healthy with no disqualifying or impairing medical history.

Here's a recent example, http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2015/...er-learning-wounded-pacquiao-had-little-shot/, that has people pissed because they lost money on bets and wasted money to watch the fight.


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## amlove21 (May 8, 2015)

So, I am here at Lackland- the specifics here are interesting to say the least. 

The not-very-common circumstances of the event-


It's not uncommon for undiagnosed congenital heart defects to pop up during times of extreme stress- we lost an Indoc Maj (last name Adrian) in the pool to this exact occurrence- but the basic trainee was a 20 year old female, which is a very narrow focus group for a congenital heart defect. 
The trainee was 2 laps (about 4oo meters) into the beginning of a PT session- the weather was moderate here (sticky humid but not hot, as it was early-ish morning), so stress was most likely not a deciding factor
No history of medical illness (cardiac in nature) for the affected or, as far as early interviews conducted would say, in the family either. 
It's a shame, but we will have to wait and see what further medical examination details. 

Condolences to the family and those left behind.


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## Johca (May 8, 2015)

Condolences to the family and those left behind.

I also agree 1oo% with "but we will have to wait and see what further medical examination details."



amlove21 said:


> It's not uncommon for undiagnosed congenital heart defects to pop up during times of extreme stress-


  Undiagnosed congenital heart defects is the most often leapt to cause, unfortunately congenital is not necessary the most common medical casual.  Coronary heart disease (CHD) risk in young adults aged 18–24 y is underestimated and the majority of young adults are unaware of their risk.   An article,  Coronary Heart Disease Risk Factors in College Students, published May 2015, references studies indicating as many as 10–20% of young adults have advanced atherosclerotic lesions.

Atherosclerotic in  emphasizing the most common form of arteriosclerosis tends to obscure arteriosclerosis can and may involve other organ systems.

Regardless insufficient information leaves many other possible causes on the table to include heart stroke, dehydration and even not enough food intake for the physical activity demands of BMT particularly if concerned about gaining weight and exceeding weight standards during BMT.


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## jonron9937 (May 10, 2015)

The reason I jumped to the heart side was a friend of mine was diagnosed with long QT syndrome years back. She now has an implanted defibrillator. It was discovered after her 14 year old sister collapsed during a basketball game.


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## Johca (May 10, 2015)

Heart ailments have historically been a common cause for rejecting an individual for military service.  In fact during WWII neurocirculatory asthenia was one of the most frequent causes of rejection and of disability.

Neurocirculatory asthenia is a combination of functional nervous and circulatory disturbances with fatigue and precordial pain.  It is a syndrome having various of other names attributed to it such as irritable heart, _cardiac muscular exhaustion,_ nervous heart, hyperthyroid heart, shell-shock heart, and others.  The condition occurs alike in civil and military life, except that the rigors and restrictions of military life often caused the syndrome to become apparent, where it might have remained in abeyance under civil conditions or general military service conditions.   The syndrome is notably one of youth and early adult life, also hereditary influences are definitely traceable in most instances.

 Often unnoticed,  it unexpectedly  most often presents when an individual is taxed beyond their strength or over when exerted.

Not only is this disease complex, disclosure of it being a possibility is seldom, if ever, put forth in any press release or any releasable findings of a injury-death inquiry.


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