A local paper in Louisiana Monday profiled a brave, but it seems, also foolish, young gentleman from Grand Bois. The headline on the story is “Boxer Is Used To Overcoming The Odds.” http://www.houmatoday.com/article/20100315/ARTICLES/100319615?Title=Boxer-is-used-to-overcoming-the-odds
It should be called “Pressing Your Luck.” The piece is about 21-year-old Roland “Jay Paul” Molinere. He was hit by a jet ski at age 10, which fractured his skull. He was in a coma for three days.
After that accident, Molinere underwent years of physical and speech therapy so he could learn to walk and talk again. He came out of that challenging situation OK. But then what sport did he take up, after he got a second chance at life?
High school football, another venue to get your block knocked off. Molinere played cornerback for South Terrebonne High School. After high school, he returned to a sport he “had loved” since he was only six years old, which was boxing.
Today, Molinere is the 2009 Louisiana Golden Gloves Division Champion, and he has other championships under his belt in his weight class, 152 pounds.
We’d be hard-pressed to think of any sport more likely to cause traumatic damage to your brain than boxing.
Molinere said his goal now is to box for the United States in the Olympics. We suggest that he find a passion he can indulge in that won’t put in brain at risk.
We talk on this blog about the miracles and tragedies. This case is a misguided approach to turn a miracle into another tragedy. The single biggest risk factor for a bad result from a head injury is a prior head injury. Any severe brain injury, one that involves coma, has left significant microscopic damage throughout the brain. A blow to this young man that might only stun someone else, could cause a catastrophic result. How did any doctor give him medical clearance to fight?
