In a frightening story out of Pennsylvania, the quarterback of the Karns City High School football team, senior Mason Martin, was rushed to the hospital after collapsing on the field during a Friday night game, as Fox News reports.
The outlet noted that after Martin reached UPMC Presbyterian Hospital in Pittsburgh via helicopter, he was found to have suffered a “significant brain bleed as well as a collapsed lung.”
The incident took place during a matchup between the Karns City squad and Redbank Valley High School, and at one point during the third quarter, Martin started staggering on the field.
Noticing Martin's apparent distress, referee Mike Vasbiner approached the young quarterback and asked if he was okay, to which he reportedly replied, “No.”
“So that's when I knew something was wrong,” Vasbiner recalled.
It was not long after their exchange that Marin collapsed and was ultimately airlifted to the hospital where he was subsequently listed in critical condition, according to a social media post written by his mother.
The athlete's mother Stacy – who is currently battling stage four breast cancer – told friends and followers on Sunday, “Mason remains in critical condition with little change over the last 36 hours. The truth is we need a miracle. I'm not saying that to sound grim, but to let you know that we need the strength of your prayers.”
“No one believes in this kid more than us, but he needs everyone's strength and prayers. Right now, we have to wait for the swelling to go down to assess the extent of the damage to the brain,” Stacy Martin added.
Heeding Mrs. Martin's call for prayers in support of her son's recovery process, the Butler County community joined together Sunday evening to hold a prayer vigil at the football field where the collapse occurred, as CBS News noted.
During the evening, clergy from area churches, school district officials, and Martin's fellow football players played active roles in the proceedings, reading Bible verses and sharing encouraging words of hope that the young man would soon show signs of improvement.
The prayers that were lifted in support of Martin on Sunday night soon began bearing fruit, as the Butler Eagle reported, with his mother providing a heartening social media update on Monday.
According to Mrs. Martin, the tube that had been placed in her son's chest had already been removed, and his lung had recovered entirely from the trauma that produced his collapse.
In addition, she reported that Mason had started exhibiting purposeful movement in his arms and was retracting his legs in response to stimulation of his toes.
“This is the first step in an extremely long journey,” the devoted mother wrote, and it seems clear that the entire community will continue wrapping Mason and the Martin family in love and prayers for as long as the young man's recovery process may take.
