Article content continued

The law, named in honour of Rowan Stringer, a Barrhaven, Ont., high school student who died after sustaining two closely spaced concussion while playing rugby, would be a first in Canada, making Ontario a ground-breaking jurisdiction, MacLeod said. In Canada, concussion protocols vary among jusidictions. Meanwhile, all U.S. states have youth concussion management laws.

“I’m just thrilled. It’s a great day,” MacLeod said. “Young people will know that if they suspect they have a concussion, they can take themselves out of a game.”

Stringer, a 17-year-old student at John McCrae Secondary School, died in hospital four days after sustaining a head injury during a school rugby match in May 2013. She had massive brain swelling because of “second impact syndrome,” a condition that results from sustaining another concussion before the first has healed. In texts to friends just before the game, Stringer indicated that she suspected she had sustained a concussion in another match a few days earlier.

The five-person jury in a coroner’s inquest into Rowan’s death made 49 recommendations last June, including a call for Rowan’s Law. The four cornerstones include education for athletes, coaches and parents; removing a young athlete from play if a concussion is suspected; ensuring that an athlete doesn’t return without a doctor’s clearance, and; ensuring that strategies are in place with return to play.

“It’s great news for us,” Rowan’s father, Gordon Stringer, said Monday. “Her death was preventable. A lot of prevention initiatives involve education and awareness. It’s part of a cultural change that needs to happen, like anti-bullying and anti-smoking education.”

Stringer said he and his wife Kathleen felt relief when they learned that Rowan’s Law is likely to pass next week, but they’re still awaiting the actual vote.

A previous sports concussions bill expired on the table in 2012. “It might have made a difference to Rowan,” said her father.

Ottawa Citizen