Former High School Football Star Survives Gunshot to Head

Ninety percent of gunshot wounds to the head prove fatal, according to the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS), and of those patients who survive the initial trauma, 50 percent die in the emergency room.

Pennsylvania high school football player Josh Zelonka beat the odds following a self-inflicted gunshot on Jan. 11 — an incident that cost him his appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy. The 2012 Apollo-Ridge graduate and former three-year starting quarterback was back at home not one month after attempting to end his life with a handgun. The bullet entered under Zelonka’s chin and exited through the top of his skull. He was treated at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh and released on Feb. 1. For more information, click here for the full story.