Crystal Banegas wasn’t sure what to do. Her son, Rigo (pictured right), was down on the football field after hitting his head on the ground. He was slow to get up but didn’t show obvious signs of concussion.

Rigo was just getting over an Achilles tendon injury that forced him to sit out for three weeks. Banegas didn’t want her son to miss more of the game he so dearly loves. So when the coaches called her down from the stands, she held on to the hope that he was fine and could rejoin his teammates.

Las Cruces NERF Assistant Commissioner Candace Avalos and coaches thought otherwise. As a Heads Up Football organization, the league has a strict policy that any apparent head injury must be cleared first by a medical professional.

Rigo and Banegas were crushed, but it turned out to be the most important decision of Rigo’s young life. The 10-year-old did not have a concussion but after being taken to a hospital, doctors found an arachnoid cyst on his brain, and every collision brought the chance of rupture and possible death.

“They thought he had a concussion and did an MRI right away,” Banegas said. “They then transported him to the El Paso Children’s Hospital where they showed me a large mass on his brain. There was no concussion. It wasn’t from football or any accident. He was born with it, and we never knew it was there.”

Heads Up Football is a comprehensive collection of resources and medically approved protocols to create change and advance players safety health when it comes to concussion awareness and recognition, heat and hydration, proper tackling fundamentals and equipment fitting. More than 5,500 youth leagues and 750 high schools in 2014 participated in the program, covering more than 150,000 coaches and nearly 1 million players.

Without Avalos and others insisting on precaution, Banegas is sure her son would have returned to the football field and risked a possible catastrophic event.

“Those coaches are his guardian angels,” she said. “They and Heads Up Football saved my son’s life.”

Arachnoid cysts are fluid-filled sacks generally located between the brain or spinal cord and the arachnoid membrane that covers the brain. Typical symptoms include headaches, nausea, vomiting, seizures, hearing loss, poor vision, vertigo and balance issues.

Other than some headaches when he was younger, Banegas said her son never showed any of the warning signs. He rode horses, played a wide variety of sports and was about to try boxing when the cyst was discovered.

“The doctors told him immediately no more sports, no more football or baseball, no more riding his horse,” she said. “How we found this out was a miracle. If he had continued doing everything he was doing, something probably would have happened to him.”

As Las Cruces NERF’s co-Player Safety Coach, Avalos said Rigo admitted he “didn’t feel right” after hitting his head so she and the coaches insisted he come out of the game. He later said he felt “fine,” but they followed the league’s rule as specified by Heads Up Football.

“Without the proper diligence and concern for the boy’s safety, we would have let him go back on the field and never thought of it again,” Avalos said. “He could have died at any time.”

Banegas said Rigo is sad that his athletic career is over at such a young age, but he is looking for ways to stay involved in sports – maybe as a team manager or assistant coach. She researches websites daily, looking for social groups so he can talk to other children facing the same challenges.

“He’s had to grow up so fast,” Banegas said. “He doesn’t get to be a little boy anymore. He still plays basketball at recess, and he still rides his bike. I try not to be a mother hen so much, but I can’t help be worried about another fall.

“I tell him to have faith and he’ll find his way. As a mom, I have to be happy he’ll get that chance.” 

This articlle first published in March 2015.