Women’s Olympic boxing hopeful Ishika ‘Isis’ Lay remains in critical condition and in a coma after collapsing during the 2011 National PAL Championships held October 3rd-8th in Toledo, Ohio.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PRLog (Press Release) – Oct 25, 2011 –
October 24, 2011
Olympic Boxing Hopeful Still in Critical Condition After Collapsing During Qualifying Fight
Jacksonville native and Women’s Olympic boxing hopeful Ishika ‘Isis’ Lay remains in critical condition and in a coma after collapsing during the 2011 National PAL Championships held October 3rd-8th in Toledo, Ohio, where she was looking to secure one of three berths in her weight class on the 2012 USA Women’s Olympic Boxing Team. The family has hired attorney John Phillips, who is investigating the facts of the incident.
The injury sustained during Lay’s match against Sherry Whetten of Tucson, Arizona, came after a seemingly uneventful exchange that followed Lay bloodying Whetten’s nose. The two women were 4-5 feet apart when Lay collapsed. Within seconds, paramedics were at her side. Sources have indicated that Ms. Lay complained of headaches for over a week leading up to the match after suffering some jabs to the head during training.
According to Phillips, all signs and symptoms support Ishika may have been suffering from a concussion and may have been a victim of second-impact syndrome. Second-impact syndrome (SIS) is a condition in which the brain swells rapidly and catastrophically after a person suffers a second concussion before symptoms from an earlier one have subsided.
SIS is often fatal, and almost everyone who is not killed is severely disabled. The cause of SIS is uncertain, but it is thought that the brain’s arterioles lose their ability to regulate their diameter, and therefore lose control over cerebral blood flow, causing massive cerebral edema. Head trauma and the resulting brain injuries are one of the leading causes of death and disability in the industrialized world. In the United States, more than 50,000 people die every year as a result of traumatic brain injury.
Ishika Lay is a survivor. She had a near catastrophic motorcycle accident in 2002 that forced her into a wheelchair for over 6 months. Her doctors advised her of the probability she’d never again walk. She not only walked, but in late 2003 joined and starred in a women’s football league, where she played wide receiver, as well as defensive end and fullback.
Ishika ‘Isis’ Lay took up boxing and excelled. She was considered a strong candidate to represent the USA Women at the 2012 Olympic Games. It will be the first time women’s boxing is a medal sport since 1902.
She now is fighting for her life. The family has hired attorney John Phillips. John urges everyone to take head injuries seriously, keep Ishika and her family in your thoughts and prayers and is in the process of setting up a foundation for Ishika. Ishika had no health insurance and this event has greatly affected the family- financially, emotionally, and otherwise. A fundraiser is being considered.