High school football player, Derek Curran, bounces back from serious brain injury during game

PHOENIX - A Kingman High School football player suffered a serious brain injury on the field.

Derek Curran, 17, collapsed during the third quarter of the October 26 game against Bradshaw Mountain High School in Prescott Valley.

Curran was placed into a medically induced coma at Saint Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center and is currently recovering at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix.

“I don’t really remember it happening,” Curran told ABC15 from his hospital bed on Tuesday.

“My memory’s a little bit off,” he said. “I have trouble remembering some stuff."

Curran’s brain was bleeding, shifting and swelling according to his doctor, Javier Cardenas, MD .

The teenager suffered a subdural hematoma, a result of serious head injury, Cardenas told ABC15.

“In some cases, people need to have part of their skull removed,” Cardenas said. “He was lucky; he didn't have to have that done."

Derek’s mother, Jan, said the school’s athletic department isn’t sure exactly which hit or impact during the game caused the brain injury.

A trainer at the game noticed his odd behavior and told him that she did not want the student athlete returning to the game, Jan said. Derek collapsed before the trainer could finish examining him.

Jan told ABC15 she expects Derek to remain in the hospital for the next three weeks. After that, he’ll hopefully return home to Kingman and continue physical therapy.