High School Football Player Hospitalized After Collapsing During Game

A Pennsylvania family is asking for help as their teenage son remains in the hospital after he collapsed on the sideline during his high school football game following a “severe helmet hit.” 

Carter Mason remains in the hospital this week after the game on Friday, Oct. 4, his family said in a series of updates on a GoFundMe page set up by his aunt and uncle to help his mother with medical bills.

“After a severe helmet hit on the field, he made it to the sideline and collapsed. He has not regained consciousness and has a brain bleed,” his aunt Sandra Friend originally wrote in the fundraiser on Saturday.

Later that day, Mason’s aunt said the teenager was “breathing on his own and they have removed the intubation.” His aunt said that “doctors have also stopped the sedation and he is briefly opening his eyes.”

In a video update shared from Mason’s bedside on Sunday, the boy’s aunt and uncle Dean Friend provided another update alongside Mason’s mother Terri, saying that Mason sustained “multiple, multiple concussions” from the hit Friday night.

“We’re just taking it day-by-day,” Carter’s uncle said.

“Carter’s making some good progress,” added his aunt Sandra Friend, who set up his GoFundMe page. “He is responding to some commands, he is saying words when he gets up, and he can sit up a little bit. We are hopeful that things are going to go well.”

Mason, who played running back for his Rochester High School football team, is being treated at UPMC Children’s Hospital, according to local WPXI.

His mother told the outlet that her son was airlifted to the hospital after he collapsed during the game’s fourth quarter. The incident happened after he took a hard hit to the head and was walked to the sideline by his teammates, losing consciousness soon after, she told WPXI.

“My reaction was to get my daughter and just hurry up and get here as fast as I could,” the boy’s mother told the outlet. “I was so scared.”

Mason was wearing a guardian cap, a helmet with extra padding that has been introduced to football in recent years in an effort to help thwart concussions, according to WPXI. Mason’s mother told the outlet Friday night’s injury was his fourth diagnosed concussion and that she’ll no longer allow him to play football.

“This is his whole life. This is his whole life, and I don’t think he was ready,” she told the outlet. “It’s horrible. It’s amazing just playing sports and what it can do to you. But he’ll be okay. He’s going to make it.”

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The Rochester Area School District said in a statement on social media that “our entire school community is praying” for Mason.

“The Rochester Area School District, including families, students and staff send their thoughts and prayers to the student, his family, our coaches and team, along with the Rochester school community,” the school district said.