Seattle High School Football Player Was Brought to Hospital With Head Injury Before He Died
— -- A high school football player who was hurt in a game had surgery for a head injury days before he died at a Seattle hospital.
Kenney Bui, 17, died Monday, three days after arriving at Seattle's Harborview Medical Center, according to hospital officials.
A spokeswoman for the hospital said Bui arrived with a head injury and was quickly taken into surgery. After surgery, Bui was transferred to the intensive care unit and was sedated and on a ventilator, as is common for patients in the ICU.
The medical examiner's office said it plans on examining Bui tomorrow before releasing a definitive cause of death. The exact nature of Bui's injury was unclear as was how it was suffered during the game.
Bui's father, Ngon Bui, told ABC News that his son had been playing since he was a sophomore and that he hoped he would be able to play in college as well.
"I'm so hurt inside my body," Bui told ABC News. "Kenney was very very smart kid and good student with good grades. Everything good for him."
Dr. Alan Hoffer, a neurosurgeon at University Hospitals Case Medical Center, said football players are particularly vulnerable to head injuries.
"Football players are exposed to entire spectrum of traumatic brain injury from mild injury (concussions) to most severe...which are bleeding of the brain" or swelling of the brain, said Hoffer.
Hoffer said stories about the injuries or deaths of high school football players reveal how important it is that players get medical attention if they exhibit any symptoms associated with a head trauma, explaining that the consequences of repeated concussions are still not fully understood.
"It’s important for kids and their parents to be educated about traumatic brain injury," said Hoffer. "[Concussion,] it is a mild traumatic brain injury. They require medical care and they really need to be cautious about getting back to play before they are fully recovered. It may have life-altering effects down the road."
Bui, who played wide receiver and defensive back, was injured during the fourth quarter of a Friday night football game, according to ABC affiliate KOMO-TV in Seattle. Another high school student in a different school district was critically injured in a different football game on the same night and had two broken vertebrae, according to his family's fundraising site and the Seattle Times.
Susan Enfield, the Superintendent of Highline Public Schools, referred to a statement from earlier in the week: "It is with great sadness that School Board President Bernie Dorsey and I share with you that TEC High School senior Kenney Bui, who was critically injured in Friday night’s Evergreen v. Highline football game, died this morning.
This is a devastating loss for all of us -- Evergreen students, families, and staff, and our entire Highline community.
Our deepest condolences go out to Kenney’s family and all who knew him. Please join us in keeping them in your thoughts and prayers."
