Georgia High School Football Player Dies of Head Injury

(Justin Russell/[CC BY 2.0 (ept.ms/2haHp2Y)])

A high school football player from Georgia who was severely injured in a game on Sept. 28 passed away from his injuries on Sept. 30.

Dylan Thomas, 16, of Griffin, Georgia, played linebacker for Pike County High School. During the Sept. 28 game against Peach County, he sustained a serious head injury.

According to Sports Illustrated, Thomas was injured in a collision in the second quarter, but didn’t feel the effects until the second half, when his arm and leg went numb before he collapsed on the field.

He was taken by ambulance to WellStar Spalding Regional Hospital in Griffin, and then airlifted to Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta.

While EMTs were loading Dylan’s unmoving form into an ambulance, players and coaches from both teams, as well as people from the stands gathered around to pray for his health.

Thomas underwent two surgeries on Sept. 28 to try to lessen the swelling in his brain, but remained in a coma.

While Dylan fought for life in the hospital, hundreds of friends and team mates gathered at the stadium to pray for his safe recovery.

His uncle, Nick Burgess, posted on Facebook early in the morning of Sept. 30 that “Things are not looking good at all. I can’t even describe the pain I am feeling.

“We will know the outcome in 12 hours. Dylan Thomas is in very critical condition, we will not know anything for another 12 hours.

“Whether he will pull through or not as of right now his brain is still swelling, even if he does pull through chances are he will not be the same.”

School officials posted on the school website that Dylan Thomas passed away around 8 p.m. on Sept. 30.

His classmates made a memorial for Thomas by hanging his jersey form his school locker. Many also changed their social media profile pictures to one showing the teen athlete, bearing the message, “Dylan Strong.”

People in the Pike County community raised more than $29,000 to help the family pay for Dylan’s medical and burial costs by the morning of Oct. 1, Sports Illustrated reported.

Another Player Down

Another Georgia football player collapsed after a hard hit during a game over the weekend, Sports Illustrated reported.

Christion Abercrombie, a sophomore linebacker at Tennessee State, suffered a head injury during a weekend game. Like Dylan Thomas, Abercrombie remained conscious for some time after the initial impact before collapsing.

Abercrombie was rushed to Vanderbilt University Medical Center for emergency surgery. His prospects seem to be better than Thomas’s.

Abercrombie was listed in critical condition following the surgery, The Tennessean reported.

“Christion is resting. He’s fighting,” mother Staci Abercrombie said in a statement through the school’s sports department, as reported by Sports Illustrated.

“We’re trusting God and please continue to pray.”

Abercrombie was a graduate of Georgia’s Westlake High School.

From NTD.tv

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