Glen Ellyn boy hit by ball at Sox game may need surgery

Everything seemed to happen in slow motion the moment Ed Kemp heard someone cry "duck!"

He turned his head away from the White Sox players on the field in time to see a line drive headed away from home plate.

Kemp watched helplessly as the ball careened toward his baseball team of 9-year-old boys on a field trip to U.S. Cellular Field.

"This ball just came screaming out," the Glen Ellyn coach said. "I could see the ball -- at the last second -- going to hit one of my kids."

Griffin Cox of Glen Ellyn stood with his team in the front row near the third-base line during batting practice June 4 when the ball hit him just above his right temple.

As soon as it happened, security guards and other adults rushed over to check on him. Players also ran over.

Sox backup catcher Toby Hall carried Griffin into the dugout where the trainers gave him a clean bill of health. First aid staff later did the same.

Four days later, Griffin was taken to Central DuPage Hospital and diagnosed with skull fractures at the point of impact and the left side of his head. Basically, family members say, the ball shifted his skull.

Additionally, fluid build-up on his brain means he could face serious surgery to repair damage to the membrane beneath his skull. A decision on whether to operate is expected to be made Friday.

It's a difficult situation for everyone to understand -- especially Griffin -- because the injury rarely hurts.

He never even cried at the game, though his mother says he just didn't want his teammates to think he was weak.

"It was a typical testosterone-driven response," said Jenny Cox, Griffin's mom.

As soon as Griffin got to the dugout, Sox players hovered.

"The whole team was all over him," Kemp said, giving him bats, balls and other souvenirs.

"He ate, drank, had a good time (that night)," Kemp added. "He said his head hurt a little bit, but he didn't drop a single tear."

But even after trainers checked Griffin's vision and did other tests, Kemp ran the boy up to the first aid station, just for good measure.

Cox said Kemp called on the way home to explain what happened, assuring her Griffin was checked over repeatedly.

She checked her son over herself when he got home. Other than some tenderness at the site of impact, the boy seemed fine.

Griffin even rode his horse the next day, but refrained from trotting her, saying it hurt his head a bit.

Cox said she and her husband assumed a little headache was natural.

"We were so nonchalant because he stayed for the game and the trainer and nurse looked at him and cleared him," she said.

That Friday, June 6, Griffin skipped baseball practice because it hurt to wear his helmet. But he played in his team's game the next day.

Then everything started to fall apart, Cox said.

Griffin began vomiting right after the game and the back of his head started swelling noticeably.

His parents rushed him to Central DuPage Hospital in Winfield, where X-rays revealed multiple skull fractures. He spent four days in the intensive care unit.

Cox said Griffin still is troubled with fluid between the membrane surrounding his brain and his skull. Neurologists are trying to determine if the substance is blood or spinal fluid. That will determine whether the boy needs surgery.

While family members await word on Griffin's treatment, Cox tries to keep her son -- who's in no pain and hasn't taken Tylenol for days -- from doing things a typical 9-year-old boy wants to do during summer.

"He said, 'I tried my bike helmet on and it fits, so I should be able to ride,' I'm like, 'nope,'" she said.

Convincing Griffin this is serious is more challenging than it sounds. But it hasn't persuaded him to switch his loyalties to the North Siders.

"I'm a Sox fan," Griffin said, "not a Cubbies fan."

That's good -- because the boy's got a fan of his own: Hall.

"The poor guy is here just trying to watch a game and something like that happens," Hall said Wednesday. "Your heart goes out to him. I hope he's OK.''