HUNTSVILLE, Ala (WHNT) — A Tennessee Valley family is calling their son’s recovery a miracle after he collapsed in a football game Friday night.
“I remember looking out and I saw somebody down,” Lindsey Thorn said. Thorn is the mother of football player Cole Thorn. “I couldn’t see who it was. I knew it was defense, so I was looking at the numbers and I didn’t see my 22.”
Senior outside linebacker Cole Thorn was running after a player when he collapsed.
Minutes later, his family said he started seizing, and he suffered a brain bleed.
First responders rushed Cole to Huntsville Hospital, where he had emergency surgery.
“It’s gut-wrenching for everyone,” West Morgan High School head coach Drew Phillips said. “Anytime you see something like that occur, it obviously makes you sick to your stomach.”
While Cole was fighting for his life, his village was fighting for him too.
The Huntsville Hospital waiting room was filled with family, friends, pastors, teammates, school faculty, and even football players from the rival school.
“The whole community treated me and my family like he was theirs,” Thorn said.
The surgeon was able to stop the brain bleed. Cole is now recovering and at a remarkable pace.
In just 12 hours, he was able to be taken off a ventilator. Each day, his mom said they see more life poured back into him.
The family is calling it nothing short of a miracle, and in one of the scariest times of their lives, they say they are more full than ever.
“It’s overwhelming in the best way, and I just don’t even know how to say thank you,” Thorn said.
While Cole continues to recover, the family is clinging to hope, sticking to their faith, and leaning on their people.
The family said doctors are hopeful he will make a full recovery.
West Morgan High School beat Priceville 8-7 on Friday night.
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