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I received an e-mail last week that will forever be indelibly etched in my mind.

Each day between 70 and 100 e-mails are sent, redirected or forwarded to me. I try to read, file, redirect or forward each one by the end of the day. The majority of these are directly related to producing our New Media site. Many are press releases, from non-profit organizations to pharmaceutical companies, asking us to plug "the first-over the counter dye-free liquid pain reliever, to publishers with a new book release, and so on.

My favorite e-mails come from my technical staff sharing the test URL for a new page to be uploaded, or the finalized code for an intricate application, they also come from our team of experts with ideas for new articles or from our writers sharing story ideas for our sponsors.

The most precious and immediately opened e-mails seem to arrive in the middle of the day as one or two liners from my 18 year old sons, usually along the lines of, "I got a 90 on my Latin test!" or "My game is on such and such field today" "Remember, it's my turn to use the car this Friday night - I have a date," or " Mom, can I come take you out to lunch? (Loosely translated: Mom, I am so hungry for the all you can eat Chinese buffet and I have no money-please meet me at Chang An's). The e-mails from my children re-center me on what is most important in my life: laughing, loving, connecting and living for the moment.

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Paradoxically, some of my most cherished e-mails are the ones that take my breath away with despair, sadness and sorrow. They are the ones that prompt me to shut my computer off for an hour or two so that I can take a long walk while I compose my thoughts on the best way to respond to the pleas for help from a mother, uncle, grandmother or other family member who has just lost a child athlete during a game or practice from a sports injury.

Last week such an e-mail arrived in my In-box. Right there, sandwiched between two emails -one from a concerned father with a subject line reading "fifth and sixth graders getting hit in the head with volleyballs" and one from Microsoft, subject line reading: You're invited to attend the Windows XP Launch Event" - was an email with a simple subject line reading, "Matthew Colby."

Matthew's grieving uncle, Deron, was the author. Matthew, 17, was the only child of Deron's sister, Kelli Colby, from Costa Mesa, California. It started off, "My nephew, Matthew Colby, passed away on September 28th as a result of an injury he sustained during a high school football game". Matthew had apparently suffered a head injury during a game the week before, and then was allowed to play in the game one week later. He collapsed and later died. Deron had a number of requests for the Team at MomsTeam. The letter closed with, "My family is looking for answers and I would like to get as much information as possible. I would appreciate any help you could provide. Thank you."

Deron found MomsTeam during an Internet search on Second-Impact Syndrome, which is a rapid, fatal brain swelling that may occur if a person suffers another head impact - even a minor one - before the symptoms of a previous concussion have fully cleared. He told me that MomsTeam has the most extensive section on SIS he could find on the Internet. During my walk, after reading Deron's e-mail, I concluded that MomsTeam wasn't doing enough on the site to educate parents, coaches, and athletic directors on the treatment of concussions in youth sports, both in terms of the grading of concussions and when it is safe for an athlete to return to play after a concussion. It is critically important that we, as parents, know enough about the subject to advocate for our kids if they are cleared to return to play before they are ready, such as less than 15 or 20 minutes after having their "bell rung" and wobbling unsteadily off the field after a blow to the head.

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Additional Information: You can read more on this subject in; Home Team Advantage: The Critical Role of Mothers in Youth Sports (HarperCollins 2006) by author and MomsTeam founder Brooke de Lench

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Article Updated: August 25, 2007

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