- Antonio Lo Iacono died after suffering a head injury during a match
- It has now become known that he suffered from ‘second impact syndrome’
- Experts want to raise awareness about the little-known health condition
A young football star lost his life after returning to football too early, suffering a concussion, his mother has revealed.
Antonio Lo Iacono was only 20 years old when he died from a head injury sustained during a match in South Australia, sending shockwaves through the sport.
His family continued to search for answers, given the sudden nature of his death. Lo Iacono was fit and healthy, with no underlying health conditions.
“It didn’t make sense to me that a fit young man of 20 would die,” his mother Wendy Smith told the Sydney Morning Herald.
‘That shouldn’t happen on a football field.’
It has since emerged that Lo Iacono was a victim of ‘second impact syndrome’, a syndrome that occurs when a person who has not fully recovered from a head injury is injured a second time, causing severe swelling of the brain.
People who suffer from second impact syndrome can die within days or weeks of the initial impact.
Lo Iacono, a Swans tragic from Sydney, suffered both head knocks in the same football match. The first came in the first quarter when he was knocked to the ground by a heavy blow, before a second harmless blow in the third quarter.
The young footballer Antonio Lo Iacono (right) tragically lost his life at the age of 20
His family is searching for answers after his unexpected death
The second blow knocked him unconscious and left him instantly brain dead.
He had also suffered a concussion during a pre-season friendly held a month before his death.
According to Dr. Adrian Cohen, who specializes in traumatic brain injuries, Lo Iacono is one of 21 young athletes who have died from second impact syndrome in the past 18 years.
However, the syndrome has not yet been identified as the official cause of death. According to Dr. Cohen, that will not happen until experts dig deeper.
“You only find that if you go beyond just an external scan,” Cohen said. “If you don’t look, you don’t find.”
‘I would advise anyone who experiences a tragic death on a sports field, or where the death involves trauma, to not only look at the heart, the spine and any bleeding around the brain, but also to examine the tissue for second impact syndrome.’
Clinical professor and retired neurosurgeon Michael Besser said the disease may not be visible at autopsy if experts don’t know what they’re looking for.
“People just don’t know,” Besser said. “When they come to the autopsy, unfortunately, there’s not much to see.”
Lo Iacono died of ‘second impact syndrome’ and experts are trying to raise awareness
There was a silver lining to this immense tragedy: the family was told that because Antonio was an organ donor, he would save two lives, including that of a baby.
“Words cannot describe the pain we are all feeling, you are loved by so many. You will always be in my heart and I will talk to you every day,” Lo Iacono’s brother Jack wrote on social media after the family tragedy.
“Your aura was so special and put a smile on everyone’s face around him. You are the most caring, thoughtful person I have ever met and have always looked after me.
‘I am so grateful for everything you have done and helped me, you are my guide and always will be. Everything I do from now on is for you; I love you so, so much ‘Tones’.’