Coach Kill’s seizure on the field: Would you know what to do?

Charles Baus/Cal Sport Media

During the Minnesota Golden Gophers‘ game against New Mexico State on September 10, the Gophers head coach Jerry Kill suffered a seizure on the sidelines.

It has been made known that Kill has a history of seizures. The seizure he suffered on the field is categorized as a tonic clonic or grand mal seizure.

What’s a tonic clonic seizure
A generalized tonic-clonic seizure is a seizure involving the entire body. The seizures usually involve muscle rigidity, followed by violent muscle contractions and loss of consciousness. After the seizure, the person may have the following symptoms:

Normal breathing
Sleepiness that lasts for 1 hour or longer
Loss of memory (amnesia) regarding events surrounding the seizure episode
A migrane like headache
Drowsiness
Confusion

What happened?
If you have not seen the footage of Coach Kill’s seizure, I encourage you to take a look at the video below. It is interesting to see the reactions from the people on the field, in the stands and those of his fellow coaches. There is clearly a feeling of widespread fear and confusion.

Video of Coach Kill’s Seizure

Not just a negative nelly…
I wanted to offer a little educational information to the 80,000 people that were sitting in the stands that day at TCF Bank Stadium. Epilepsy Action, a UK organization, has prepared a video that details how to handle a tonic clonic or grand mal seizure.

The video also recognizes that there will be fear and concern but provides information on how to help. I hope you check it out.

Epilepsy Action: First Aid for a Tonic Clonic Seizure

Oh and if you want to get really mad…
Watch this one with the team doctor:
http://youtu.be/4_XWi_6bU34

PS. There were probably close to 1000 people in the stands that have epilepsy. I’m just saying…

Jessica K. Smith Founder and CEO; Executive Director

Jessica Keenan Smith is a patient advocate and epilepsy community leader with more than 15 years of experience. As Founder and CEO of Living Well With Epilepsy and Executive Director of ASENT she bridges the gap between the scientific and patient communities, with a particular focus on the needs of the epilepsies. Jessica Keenan Smith is Founder and CEO of Living Well With Epilepsy, an award winning online resource for people affected by epilepsy to share stories and access in-depth information on the disease. Since 2009, Living Well With Epilepsy (https://livingwellwithepilepsy.com) has been featured in Forbes, Wired, NBC, NPR and the cover story of Epilepsy Advocate Magazine and has partnered with companies such as UCB, Lundbeck, Sunovion, Eisai, and more. Ms. Smith is also the Executive Director of the American Society for Experimental Neurotherapeutics (ASENT) (https://asent.org), an organization that brings together leaders from industry, academia, government and advocacy who are engaged in bringing drugs and devices to market across all neurologic disease states. In this role she is responsible for leading a successful scientific journal and annual scientific conference with speakers from all over the world.

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