Letter to Softball Canada

Below is the email I wrote submitting the petition stats to be shared with the Board Members of Softball Canada in advance of their board meeting on September 29, 2017. Thank you all SO MUCH for your support thus far, and please, continue sharing and spreading awareness about this very important issue. Dear Hugh, I am so humbled and glad to be reporting that at the time of writing this email to you – 10:36pm PST – the petition is currently at 14,470 (!!!) signatures and still growing. An extremely important point I want to bring up to anyone who is against this change happening because it should be the choice of the player – is that this is far from it being about the person wearing or not wearing a helmet on their own accord. It’s about the person throwing the ball (who does choose to wear a helmet) – but they accidentally hit a base runner not wearing a helmet (because they chose not to) in the head and severely injures or kills them, causing that ball thrower to be forever devastated about that. It’s all the people on the field who witness these accidents and injuries and are forever traumatized. Everyone tells me they will never be able to forget the sound of the ball cracking my head open. It’s the countess family and friends who are heartbroken over the loss for the rest of their lives. This is not just the person who chooses not to wear a helmet who is affected when something goes wrong (and things do go wrong) – it’s everyone else around them too, on and off the field. In addition, there has been a lot of talk about the stigma people experience when they have made that proactive choice to wear a helmet – one gentleman saying that people would mock him and call him “helmet boy”. As mentioned when initially sharing the petition with you, if you scroll down past the first few comments and click “View All Reasons”, you can read through thousands of comments that the petitioners have taken the time to write with their heartfelt reasoning for doing so. MANY of these people say “I am an avid softball player, I am an umpire, and have seen people get hit in the head far too often”. It just takes that one bad throw, at the right spot and the wrong time for it turn tragic. Many others say “my husband, my boyfriend, my children” play and they do not want to live in fear of them being injured, or worse, them dying like Chris tragically did, leaving behind his new wife and baby girl with so much life left to live. There are nurses, doctors and physical therapists commenting who witness the aftermath of these head injuries first hand and they say this change is overdue and very necessary. I’ve taken some time to compile some of these comments for you and the board members convenience. But first, I want to share a story of a young woman I connected with throughout this journey. Her name is Tiffany Prentice from Haliburton Highlands, ON. On May 22, 2017, she was running to first base when the ball being thrown to get her out hit and shattered the left side of her face. Within 30 seconds she was unconscious, unresponsive and barely breathing. She was airlifted to Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto and was on life support and in a coma for 24 hours. Because of the swelling on her brain, she suffered over 80 seizures in less than 72 hours. She had 3 metal plates and twelve screws put in and she has permanently lost 60% of the vision in her left eye. I am so thankful that she is survived and able to share her story with me. On behalf of Chris Godfrey, his family, his friends, my family, my friends and the 14,470 people who have signed this petition so far and agree that this is important – I beg of you (all) to do the right thing and make this change before another inevitable tragedy takes place. One life lost is far too many. Sincerely, Danielle Hitchner