Football-induced brain injury has killed Georgia linebacker

The lights were bright. The grass was green. Fans have invaded the stands on the football field at Pike County High School in Zebulon, Georgia. On the network, the local team, the Pirates, dressed in red and black jerseys, faced the Trojans of Peach County High School. It was the hour of football on Friday night.

Two days later, hundreds of people wearing the colors of the school found themselves in the same field. Only this time, when the local team walked on the grass, she made orderly rows, arms tied and dark face. Two players grabbed a Pirates jersey numbered 32.

The jersey belonged to Dylan Thomas, a 16-year-old linebacker, who had been rushed to hospital in the middle of Friday night's game after being injured and unable to react. The high school junior was in critical condition after undergoing surgical procedures to relieve brain swelling, and many rallied Sunday to pray for her recovery, reported WAGA.

"We know it's in the hands of God," said Thomas's uncle, Nick Burgess, to the crowd. "He always works miracles, he can do anything, no matter what the doctors say or what it sounds like."

Burgess added, "We know that Dylan is a fighter."

A few hours later, his family received tragic news. Thomas succumbed to his injuries and died, according to an announcement Monday from officials of the Pike County Public School.

It all started during the second half of Friday's game.

"It was a normal Friday, I encourage and I laugh with other parents, then everything goes black," said Thomas's mother, Shannon Thomas, at WGXA.

In the third quarter, a referee stopped the game as Thomas came off the pitch, his coach Brad Webber told reporters at a press conference Monday. Webber said that Thomas was the "heart and soul" of the team's defense and that he had just won a place in the starting lineup this season. According to MaxPreps, Thomas measured 6 feet and weighed 150 pounds. The opposing team's list includes several players at 225 and up, up to 265 pounds.

Webber told the team's sports coach that Thomas had been injured. Something seemed wrong with his leg.

"He spoke well and things went wrong," he said.

Thomas's family members described a much more dramatic story.

"I heard that he was saying that he was not feeling well and that it was at that time that his left leg and his left arm became numb and that He almost fell off the bench, "Burgess told WSB.

In a few minutes, emergency services were on the scene, announced Monday the sports director of the school, James Stanford.

Although Burgess told WAGA that he thought his nephew had been hit in the second quarter, school officials had not yet determined the exact timing and conditions. circumstances of Thomas's injury, Webber said. He added that the video of the game is being watched for "identifying an area of ​​this event," but added that he had not noticed anything unusual.

Head injuries generally experienced in contact sports such as football have become a concern at all levels of the sport, from high school to NFL, sparking debates on safety and asking if young children should be allowed to participate. Researchers have linked concussions and, more recently, headaches to the onset of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a common neurodegenerative disorder in people with a history of trauma. repetitive brain, for example football players.

The day after Thomas's hospitalization, a surprisingly similar scene took place during a collegiate match in Nashville. Christion Abercrombie, a sophomore from Tennessee State University who, like Thomas, is also a linebacker and a native of Georgia, lost consciousness in a match against Vanderbilt University, reported the Atlanta Journal Journal Constitution.

Abercrombie was able to leave the field himself and told the team coaches that he had a headache. Moments later, he collapsed, according to AJC.

"It was only a football match," TSU coach Rod Reed said Sunday at the WNSR coaches radio show. "He was on a block, and it was not something nasty or dirty or something like that – just an unfortunate situation."

Abercrombie has undergone emergency surgery and remains in critical condition, reported the Tennessean.

On Monday, Webber, coach for 30 years, said he continued to believe that football was a safe sport, citing the improvement of fitness and strength patterns as well as the attention given to safety equipment, including helmets. In Friday's game, he said Thomas was wearing a brand new Riddell SpeedFlex helmet, "the best helmet … money can buy."

The 2018 NFL laboratory tests of helmet performance – the evaluation of helmets that best reduce the severity of head impacts – rank 18th out of 34.

As soon as Thomas was taken away by ambulance, support from the high school athlete began to pour in.

In Friday's match, the Peach County High School Trojans knelt with Thomas's teammates on the field to pray in a "sports spirit," the school wrote on Facebook.

In addition, Sunday's vigil brought together residents of the county and many neighboring communities, said Thomas's teammate Jake Patterson at WSB.

"It meant the world to me," Patterson said. "We have guys driving in about three hours just to see a child and pray for him."

Webber said that the football team and the school are still coping with Thomas' death. At Monday 's press conference, Webber often paused, taking deep breaths, his voice becoming thick with emotion.

"He was one of the most beautiful young men in my life," he said, adding that "heaven would be the limit for him."

Many social media posts also paid tribute to Thomas.

In an article on Facebook, Burgess wrote that his nephew was "the golden child of the family … the one who had the biggest heart".

A number of local high schools have announced ads asking their students to wear the colors of Pike County High School on Tuesday.

StudentSection tweeted "At the announcement of the tragic news of the death of Dylan Thomas, we will delay the results of this poll and use the winner for the next home game.This week we will be wearing RED as a tribute to the memory. a friend, a son, a classmate and a football player RIP Dylan "

LGHS Student Section tweeted "Tonight, Pike County lost one of theirs, Dylan Thomas.In Dylan's honor on Tuesday, we need all students to wear red and black. Let the community of Pike County our love and support for the Wildcat in this difficult time. "Please pass the word"