A high school football player is fighting for his life in hospital after a devastating hit to the head caused him to have a seizure at the side of the field.
Rochester High School’s Carter Mason was playing against Shenango on Friday night when he took a severe hit to his helmet. He made it back to the sideline but then collapsed and medics rushed to his aid.
According to a GoFundMe page set up in his name, Mason has a bleed on the brain and was intubated in hospital in the hours immediately after the catastrophic incident.
A further update on Saturday afternoon revealed that the young football player is now ‘breathing on his own’ and the intubation has been removed.
Mason has a younger brother and sister who are with him in hospital, and his mother is ‘their sole support’, per the GoFundMe page.
Carter Mason is currently fighting for his life in hospital after suffering a seizure on Friday night
The page also revealed: ‘The doctors have also stopped the sedation and he is briefly opening his eyes. He is scheduled for an MRI.’
Speaking to KDKA-TV after the game, Carter’s grandmother Dorothy Mason told reporters: ‘Apparently, he must have bumped in with another player and was hit on the left side of his head, and he had collapsed, they said it looked like seizures, and they got an ambulance for him and took him up to Children’s Hospital. They [flew] him to Children’s Hospital.’
She also revealed that it is not the first concussion he has suffered during his young football career.
As of Sunday morning, over $15,000 had been raised for Mason’s family – far more than the $2,000 target set by the fundraisers.
Mason’s injury is just the latest in a worrying spate of head injuries on the football field, from the professional level all the way down to the high school game.
Just last week, legendary quarterback Brett Favre was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease at the age of 54 – after suffering multiple concussions throughout his two-decade career.
Favre has previously spoken out about his ‘thousands’ of head injuries on the football field – and he is far from the only ex-football player in a similar situation.
There has been a lot of concern in recent weeks for the Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who last month suffered the third concussion of his young career.
He is currently sidelined indefinitely, and has been urged by many to retire.
