CJ Dickey was an 18-year-old athlete, seemingly in his prime, with sickle cell trait.
Calvin and Nicole Dickey pose for a portrait in Tampa with a photo of their son, Calvin "CJ" Dickey, who died two days after his first day of football practice at Bucknell University this summer.The night before Calvin Dickey Jr.’s first and final football practice at Bucknell University, he slept in his parents’ hotel room.
Doctors told the Dickeys that their son died from rhabdomyolysis, or muscle breakdown, caused by exertional sickling. It’s a rare condition triggered by exercise that is too intense in someone with the sickle cell trait, a sickle cell gene inherited from just one parent. Such exercise can cause the body’s red blood cells to convert from their traditional round shape into hook-shaped sickles, blocking the bloodstream, preventing the flow of oxygen, and leading to organ failure.
it only means that someone inherited the sickle cell gene from one, but not both, of his parents. Eight percent of Black Americans have it, but it is not limited by race. Calvin and Nicole Dickey, CJ’s parents, say Bucknell has refused to provide any details about the practice that led to their son’s death, or the protocols the school did or did not have in place to prevent it. The autopsy report from the local coroner’s office is still pending, though a private autopsy commissioned by the family found sickled cells in CJ’s bloodstream, they said.
Transitional times, like the first day of practice after a break, tend to be the most dangerous. The NCAA recommends that schools slowly build up the intensity of their training, and allow for rest and recovery between intense bouts of exercise. (Athletes without sickle cell trait can also experience muscle breakdown, though it’s unlikely to be fatal. In September, for example,“You tell the athletes, if you feel these things, it’s not you being a wimp,” Casa said.
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