KAMLOOPS – The pounds of complex, specially fashioned armour worn by football players for protection sometimes not only fail to do so, they can be converted to having the opposite effect, making him a human battering ram.

The game’s most lethal weapon -- the helmet, worn in this case by Stampeders’ defensive back Fred Bennett -- put Bryan Burnham in a Calgary hospital with a ruptured spleen that could have had more serious consequences if medical personnel had not been as alert.

“‘How’s the spleen?’” Burnham said Tuesday. “I get that question asked of me every day. It’s good. I don’t really feel it any more. That’s one of the things that training camp helped me do -- build my confidence back up. I’m at the point where I can get hit now and know my insides are going to be OK.”

True to his word, Burnham, a second-year slotback, was one of the more impressive B.C. Lions in last Friday’s 20-6 preseason loss to the Stampeders, a return visit to McMahon Stadium and the city where he learned more about the function of the spleen than he cared to know.

On that doleful evening of Sept. 27, the Lions not only lost 14-7 to the Stampeders but saw their premier running back, Andrew Harris, leave the game with a dislocated ankle and Burnham take the full force of Bennett’s helmet in the chest. Neither played again that season.

Injuries to the spleen -- the vascular organ that filters blood -- are extremely rare in football, but severe hemorrhaging can be fatal, if not recognized and appropriately treated. Burnham was exhibiting signs -- tenderness, nausea and shock -- that he should be transported to a local emergency facility immediately.

A U.S. study of high school football found that only 0.23 per cent of injuries reported involved the spleen, in comparison with 17.28 per cent involving the ankle.

“The way it happened was such a freak thing,” Burnham explained. “It was the perfect storm. I was stretched out to make the catch and he (Bennett) hit me with his helmet, right in the rib cage. I was bleeding internally. It could have been (fatal), if the doctors hadn’t acted so quickly. If I had gone back in the game, and gotten hit again . . . “

Burnham spent a week in hospital before he was well enough to be discharged, but the healing process took another five months until he was cleared to resume regular training.

“I knew I had a spleen,” he said. “But I didn’t know how important it was, until I got injured. Back in the day, they would just take it out. It’s responsible for filtering blood. It’s responsible for your immune system. Once I was in the hospital, I learned how important it was.”

For a player who has just two CFL starts on his professional resume, the easygoing Burnham is taking a serious run at a starting position, a receiver of surpassing grace with a knack for getting open and grabbing anything thrown his way. He’s the camp’s unofficial leader in fewest dropped balls, a number close to zero.

“I would say most positions are still up for grabs now,” suggested Lions receivers coach Khari Jones. “But Bryan is playing great. He’s grown from last year, just like we thought. We’re looking for big things from him. I’m impressed. But it’s a tight competition, just because we have so many great players. He’s right in the mix.”

In his CFL debut last season, on Sept. 19 against the Toronto Argonauts, the native of Moorestown, N.J., had five catches for 90 yards and a touchdown as the replacement for injured Courtney Taylor, the man Burnham is now pushing for a starting job.

A week later, he suffered the freak injury against Calgary.

Indeed, Burnham’s injury history is nothing if not abnormal.

His freshman season at Tulsa University was wiped out after he cut his arm in practice, ignored the wound and developed a serious infection. As a senior, he tore his MCL in the opening game and never played again.

“Three freak accidents,” he said.

It’s only training camp, but Burnham’s stayed healthy.

His flashes of brilliance make one wonder what he can do if he stays that way for an entire season.

mbeamish@vancouversun.com

Twitter.com/sixbeamers