Ben was a fourteen year old who played Rugby Union in Northern Ireland. Four minutes into the second half of a match, Ben was involved in a heavy collision which caused him to be concussed. However he continued to play and was involved in 2 other heavy collisions. Even though Ben complained to his teammates about not being able to remember the tackle he had just made, the referee and his coaches were never informed and he stayed on the pitch. Then just before the end of the match he collapsed and despite frantic efforts made by a doctor who was watching and medics at the Royal Victoria Hospital he never recovered. An inquest found that Ben had died from Second Impact Syndrome which is when someone suffers a second concussion before the symptoms of the first concussion have stopped. This causes the brain to swell catastrophically. SIS is almost always fatal.
