February 25, 2007

Broncos Lose Another Player: Damien Nash, 24, collapsed and died after a charity basketball game in suburban St. Louis on Saturday. The game was to benefit his brother's heart transplant foundation.

posted by rcade to football at 06:46 AM - 8 comments

What a sad story. I can't even imagine what his parents have gone through. One son has a heart transplant, and the other dies.

posted by louisville_slugger at 07:20 AM on February 25, 2007

.

posted by Fence at 09:48 AM on February 25, 2007

Damien died, not Darris. Derris was the brother.

posted by Dan121377 at 02:02 PM on February 25, 2007

Very sad, tragic even.It just shows how little we really know about medicine, since the young man must have had multiple physicals in his athletic career.

posted by sickleguy at 03:05 PM on February 25, 2007

How similar to Dennis Johnson's untimely death. How terribly ironic as well for this to have happened after a benefit for his brother's heart transplant. It is said to be the saddest thing in the world to be a parent that has lost a child, even more so an adult child on the threshold of what might have been a nice career.

posted by Howard_T at 03:26 PM on February 25, 2007

Damien died, not Darris. Derris was the brother. Corrected. Sorry about the error. I had a coworker (and rec-league basketball teammate) drop dead of a heart problem on our practice court at age 27. He had mitral valve prolapse, and I've been told that the best way to detect unknown heart problems is to get a working EKG test. They put you on a treadmill and monitor your heart while you're working out. You'd think that athletes would get enough testing to catch this. But one thing that hurt my coworker was that he was athletic, young and seemed in great health. His doctor wouldn't have recommended a working EKG or any other heart tests unless he asked for them.

posted by rcade at 04:11 PM on February 25, 2007

Nicely stated, Howard_T.

posted by steelergirl at 01:05 PM on February 26, 2007

What really stands out in this case is how innocent Damien Nash was. He wasn't involved in some gangbanger shooting, or hittin up clubs- he seemed like a honorable young fellow. It's sad to see anyone die, especially when the person had exponential amounts of promise in his future. Best wishes to friends and family.

posted by Kendall at 02:41 PM on February 26, 2007

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