Teen Football Player’s Lingering Concussion Symptoms Revealed a Rare Brain Malformation

Logan Coleridge had grown up absorbing the rough contact that comes with football. He started playing at age 6 and, over the years, had dealt with several concussions. But after a helmet-to-helmet collision during his freshman year of high school in August 2023, the New Jersey teenager began experiencing symptoms far more severe than anything he had felt before.

Logan said he became intensely dizzy and struggled to keep his balance. His memory, he recalled, was “terrible.” He also developed “severe” sensitivity to light and “terrible headaches.” Once a strong student, he suddenly found it difficult to concentrate in class, remember assignments or retain what he had just read.

“I’ve got concussions in my past, and it wasn’t like a normal one,” Logan said. “I knew it was something else.”

What worried his family most was that Logan’s condition did not improve. Months of physical therapy made no difference, his mother, Becky Coleridge, said. A neurologist who had been treating Logan since he was diagnosed with abdominal migraines the previous year prescribed two medications, but both caused negative side effects. An orthopedic doctor recommended examining his neck. Other medical providers could not explain what was happening. Becky Coleridge pushed for doctors to order an MRI, but she could not get one approved. All the while, Logan was missing school nearly every week. Over-the-counter pain relievers did little to ease the headaches, which were becoming more frequent.

Then, in early spring 2024, after an especially severe headache kept Logan home from school, he was finally able to see a concussion specialist.

“The first thing he said was ‘Nobody’s given this kid an MRI?’” Becky Coleridge recalled. The specialist ordered the MRI, along with an X-ray of Logan’s neck. At first, the family thought the imaging might reveal a problem with his occipital nerve, which runs from the neck up to the scalp.

Instead, the scan delivered a frightening diagnosis: Logan had an arteriovenous malformation, known as an AVM. Neither Logan nor his parents had ever heard of the condition before.

“Everything we read was very scary,” Becky Coleridge said. “At that moment, we realized the danger he had been in.”

What is an arteriovenous malformation? 

An AVM is an abnormal tangle of blood vessels in the brain, said Dr. Andrew Russman, head of the Cleveland Clinic’s stroke program, who was not involved in Logan’s care. AVMs put “a lot of pressure on the vein side” and can produce a variety of symptoms, he said. The biggest risk with an AVM is rupture, where the vessels burst and cause bleeding in the brain. 

In a case like Logan’s, where the AVM hasn’t ruptured, there can still be symptoms. Those symptoms can affect a person’s motor skills, sensory and visual perception, language abilities and the way they walk, Russman said. The effects can vary depending on where in the brain the AVM has formed, Russman said. 

The Coleridges had two options to treat Logan: Radiation therapy, a non-invasive technique that uses focused radiation beams to target and slowly destroy the AVM, or surgery. Radiation therapy could take too long, the family decided, and so they decided to have Logan treated by Dr. Howard Riina, a cerebrovascular neurosurgeon at NYU Langone. 

“He couldn’t go to school. His whole life was impacted by these headaches,” Riina said. “They wanted an immediate solution.” 

Riina said the AVM, which was on a “headache spot” in the occipital region of the brain, was likely the root of Logan’s symptoms. People are born with AVMs, Riina said, and they grow as the body grows, which can cause increased symptoms. 

“Obviously, you don’t want to have multiple things going on in your head, but the concussion is what led to the imaging, which led to the diagnosis of the AVM, which was probably what was causing the headaches all along,” he said. 

Raising awareness and “focusing on a new beginning” 

Logan underwent surgery on July 17, 2024, nearly a year after his symptoms began. Riina performed a craniotomy and removed the AVM. Three days later, Logan was discharged from the hospital to continue his recovery at home. Logan said it was a “lonely” way to spend his summer vacation. Even as his recovery progressed, he couldn’t participate in the sports he loved. 

“I couldn’t really do the things that I love normally doing, like exercising, playing football was a big thing for me. I was just stuck in bed, pretty much having minimal activity,” Logan said. 

Now, Logan has only the occasional headache, and the pain can be treated with medication. He has follow-ups at NYU Langone, but Riina said everything has come back clear. The Coleridges are working to encourage early testing: Becky Coleridge said she wishes Logan had received an MRI earlier so that months of suffering and confusion could have been avoided. 

This year has been a complete turnaround, Logan said. He no longer misses school. He celebrated his 16th birthday and took driving lessons. This summer, he spent almost every day at the beach with friends. This month, he’s gearing up for a return to the football field. 

“The whole experience was a fork in the road for me that I had to get through,” Logan said. “I’m leaving that time in my life in the past and focusing on a new beginning.” 

Edited by

Lucia I Suarez Sang