Vikings wide receiver Percy Harvin collapses at practice, migraines blamed

Minnesota Vikings player Percy Harvin collapsed during a practice today, and had to be taken to the hospital.

The cause of the wide receiver’s on-field collapse suspected to be due to a series of migraines according to the Minnesota Star Tribune‘s “Access Vikings” blog. Harvin is said to have been “down on the field for several minutes,” and was transported to Fairview Southdale hospital in Edina. Coach Brad Childress said the inident was difficult to describe, but cited Harvin’s long-standing difficulty with migraine headaches:

“I don’t know how to classify [the episode],” Childress said. “Not reallly a seizure but he had some trouble over here. I’d be remiss if I tried to qualify it one way or the other. He seemed like he was stable. Shugs [head athletic trainer Eric Sugarman], Dr. [Sheldon] Burns and Dr. [Chris] Larson were all with him right there and Shugs and Dr. Burns rode to the hospital with him. … As we say those things [migraines] can be debilitating and obviously that one hit and hit hard. It’s always scary for all of our guys when you see a teammate struggling with whatever. We said a quick prayer for him.”

Harvin is said to have suffered from the headaches since the age of 10, and the “Access Vikings” blog reports that he missed two weeks of training camp when a series of migraines felled him after the death of his grandmother. According to the blog, Harvin was scheduled to talk to reporters later today before the migraine caused his collapse.