Law Inspired By Local Teen's Injury Inspires National Movement

Teenage football players were among the millions who watched the Super Bowl on Sunday.

Doctors say they're the most vulnerable to serious brain injuries after a hard hit on the field.

But now there's a growing national movement to protect young players, and it started with an athlete from Maple Valley.

MORE ON THIS STORY The Brain Injury Association of Washington wrote and advocated Washington’s law. The Brain Project The Seattle Sports Concussion Program run by Harborview and UW Medicine. The program began after passage of the state law and is designed to help schools meet its provisions.

Zackery Lystedt is a remarkable young man.

He's making big progress since a rough hit on the football field left him in a coma for a month.

His story inspired a new law in our state, and now the movement is going national.

"I get better at one thing every day at least one thing," Zackery said.

At 17, Zackery is learning to walk again. With the help of his parents, he's making remarkable progress after a serious brain injury in 2006.

"I just try every day to be the best man I can be."

Zackery was 13 when he took a hard hit to the head during a junior high football game. Instead of sitting out, he went back on the field.

At the end of the game, he collapsed.

He spent seven days on life support and stayed in a coma for a month. It took nine months for Zackery to say his first word.

"We know that if Zackery was taken out of the game we wouldn't be living the life that we're living," said Victor Lystedt, Zackery's father.

Last year, Zack's dad joined doctors in explaining to state lawmakers the danger of returning young athletes to play after a concussion.

"It's not the first blow, it's the second or the multiple blows to the concussed brain that make the youth athlete particularly vulnerable," said Dr. Stan Herring of Harborview Medical Center and UW Medicine.

Preventing serious brain damage that can come from a second impact is why last year state lawmakers passed -- and the governor signed -- the Zackery Lystedt law.

The law -- now framed in the Lystedt home -- states that when a youth athlete gets a concussion, he or she must be removed from the game.

The athlete comes back only when cleared by a medical professional.

"It's simple, it's direct, it puts the responsibility where it needs to be, and it's catching on."

Zackery's case inspired a new sports concussion program at Harborview.

The NFL is now running public service announcements about preventing brain injuries.

And attorney Richard Adler, who wrote the Zackery Lystedt law, is getting calls from other states that are looking to pass their own laws.

"It's a prairie fire," said Adler. "We have started it in Washington."

All because of Zackery, who says he was chosen by God to survive and inspire others.

"And I'm going to keep on inspiring people, that's the cool thing," Zackery said.

And Zackery's message about brain injuries isn't just directed at football.

Doctors say it applies to every sport.