A Lake Cormorant High School football player was hospitalized after being exposed to a highly toxic chemical that is banned in over 70 countries.
According to WMC, Zach Brown has been sidelined all season and is being treated at the Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston following his mysterious exposure to paraquat, a chemical used to kill weeds and grass on contact and that can be lethal to humans when ingested.
“It’s probably the most toxic herbicide by far,” Dr. Michael Marlin with the Mississippi Poison Control Center told the Memphis T station. “It can easily injure fats and proteins; it’s not selective in the injuries it does to the body. Long-term, the biggest issue is injury to the lungs, like permanent lung injury, which can necessitate lung transplantation”
According to Marlin, paraquat is restricted, but not entirely banned, in the U.S. for agricultural purposes. There are an average of 100 cases of paraquat exposure every year nationwide with a high mortality rate. It initially damages the kidneys and liver before accumulating in the lungs weeks later.
“Zach Brown and his family are facing an unimaginable road. Zach is critically ill at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston following an accidental paraquat exposure,” Casey Nester, the wife of Lake Cormorant football coach Nick Nester, wrote in an online fundraiser created for Brown’s family. “He is currently on ECMO and being evaluated for a possible lung transplant, while his family remains by his side hundreds of miles from home.”
According to Casey, the Brown family provided a hopeful update on his health when they last spoke.
“They said the last couple days have been looking a lot more positive than it had been in the past,” Nester said to WMC. “Seems like he got through some challenging parts, but I don’t think he’s completely out of the woods yet either.”