An injury sustained during Tusky Valley’s season-opening football game has left a 15-year-old player paralyzed and a community praying for a miracle.
During the second quarter of the Trojans’ Aug. 22 game at Waynedale, freshman Mayson White collided with a player during a tackle, fracturing his C4 vertebra. The C3 through C5 vertebrae form the midsection of the cervical spine, near the base of the neck, and injuries in this area are frequently associated with paralysis.
After the injury, Mayson was immediately carted off the field and transported to Akron Children’s Hospital, where he underwent surgery the following day to relieve pressure on his spine. Although Mayson’s parents described the procedure as going well, Mayson is currently paralyzed.
In the emotional statement issued by Amanda White, Mayson’s mother, she said Mayson “has some movement in his right arm but not his hand and he can shrug his shoulders, but nothing in his legs. And although this was not the outcome we had been hoping for, we are just so thankful that he is still here with us.”
However, Amanda White, in an interview later that day, communicated that Mayson has been experiencing some sensory feeling in his legs.
News of Mayson’s injury has spread far online as a Tusky Valley Trojans’ post about Mayson’s injury has received comments, prayers, and words of encouragement from across the state, and even the country.
The Tusky Valley Trojan Booster Club has asked that Trojan fans attending the Coshocton game on Aug. 29 dress in white clothing as part of a “white out” in support of Mayson, evoking his last name.
The booster club is also producing T-shirts honoring Mayson for the Coshocton “white out” game, and has announced that it will also donate a portion of the proceeds they make from an upcoming car raffle to the White family.
Community members have also set up a GoFundMe page for Mayson and his family that, as of Monday, has already raised nearly $30,000 its $35,000 goal to assist Mayson in his recovery.
