As we approach fall, we come closer to football season, one of the most popular sports in America.
One school just played its first game of the season under the Friday night lights. Unfortunately, it ended in tragedy.
An Alabama high school student died after sustaining a brain injury during a football game.
Friday night marked the first football game of the season for Morgan Academy in Alabama. ABC reported that junior and quarterback Caden Tellier started off with a great game.
“Tellier threw for a touchdown and rushed for a touchdown in the first half,” they said.
Tragically, Tellier received a fatal brain injury during the third quarter. He was tackling another player, the outlet noted.
The game was against Southern Academy, another school in the Alabama Independent School Association.
The school’s headmaster, Dr. Bryan Oliver, told AL.com that Tellier was flown from Selma, where the game was, to the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital.
WEAR News 3 noted that Morgan Academy was planning to “suspend all school activities for the week.”
Michael McLendon, the executive director of the Alabama Independent School Association, stated, “As a small school, Morgan Academy feels this tragedy even more deeply.”
Kristen Jones organized a fundraiser for the Tellier family on GoFundMe. She hopes it will “cover all of their many medical, life flight and funeral expenses and time out of work.” So far, over $84,000 has been raised out of a goal of $100,000.
Jones’ relation to the Tellier family is unknown, but based on what she wrote, she is someone close.
“Caden is best known for his kindness, generosity, and love,” she said. “True to his nature, he is giving of himself one more time to save the lives of others through the donation of his organs. His legacy will live on, and we thank God that we had the opportunity to love him and be loved by him.”
Tellier was 16-years-old. Oliver announced his death in a Facebook post on Sunday.
“I want to thank all the schools and individuals that have reached out during this difficult time,” Oliver wrote. “Caden will never be forgotten for who he was and what he means to Morgan Academy.”
Brain injuries are not uncommon for high school football players.
While death is, thankfully, a rare occurrence for any player participating in high school football, brain injuries are not.
An article in Scientific Reports summarized a study that looked at the effects of playing high-contact sports, like football, on high school students.
“American football has become the focus of numerous studies highlighting a growing concern that cumulative exposure to repetitive, sports-related head acceleration events (HAEs) may have negative consequences for brain health, even in the absence of a diagnosed concussion,” they said.
The NYU Grossman School of Medicine also wrote about the impact of football on the brain. They noted that while it is typically players in the NFL who make the news when they sustain an injury, they are far from the only ones doing so.
“A major issue with concussions is they can be difficult to diagnose, and many student-athletes return to play too soon,” they said. “Many high schools lack the necessary medical personnel and equipment to examine athletes properly.”
Furthermore, “A concussed athlete who returns to play before their brain is properly healed is more susceptible to sustaining an even worse injury known as second-impact syndrome — a condition in which the brain is vulnerable to another, often more severe, injury.”
Because of this, many activists, including NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, are advocating for greater awareness of these injuries.
Unfortunately for the Tellier family, the activism comes too late. They will spend the rest of their lives missing Caden, who died doing what he loved.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer for YourTango who covers entertainment, news and human interest topics.
