Teen's Tragic Case

By Nadia Kounang, CNN

updated 7:04 AM EST, Fri January 27, 2012

Dr. Sanjay Gupta has been following the 2011 season of a North Carolina high school football team. In 2008, a player on the team died after sustaining a head injury during a game. For a closer look at the health and safety issues on the playing field, watch "Dr. Sanjay Gupta Reports: Big Hits, Broken Dreams," this Saturday night at 8 p.m. ET.

(CNN) -- For 17-year-old Nathan Stiles, his senior year was supposed to be the best yet.
He was a straight-A student and homecoming king at Spring Hill, Kansas, High School, and was the Broncos' star running back. He was a starter on the varsity basketball team and loved to sing at church. He was the son any mother dreamed of having.

His mom, Connie, recalls, "He was an athlete, but school was important. His grades, his teachers and just having a family ... he had his priorities right."

The final game of his senior year turned out to be the final game of his life. Nathan died playing the game he loved, football. His autopsy would reveal he died of second-impact syndrome, when a player is hit again before the brain has had a chance to heal from an initial concussion.

But it would turn out that those repetitive hits Nathan took on the field would also make him the youngest reported case of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). It's a degenerative disease found in football players and other athletes in contact sports who get repeated hits to their heads.

Nathan Stiles was a straight-A student, homecoming king, and the Spring Hill Bronco's star running back.

The day after homecoming, Nathan complained of headaches. But nothing unusual, until five days later, when his mom received a call from his athletics trainer. "Nathan's telling me he's still having headaches. You need to go take him to the emergency room.'"

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