A high school football player died over the weekend after suffering a brain injury during a game on Friday night.
Caden Tellier, the 16-year-old quarterback at John T. Morgan Academy in Selma, Alabama, was hurt after a tackle in the third quarter of his school’s season opener against Southern Academy. Tellier was airlifted to the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital that evening, with his family confirming his death the following day.
“Our boy, Caden Tellier has met Jesus face to face,” Tellier’s parents said in a Facebook statement. “We appreciate all of your prayers and we covet them for the hard days ahead. Everyone who knows Caden has known kindness, generosity and love, and true to his nature, he is giving of himself one more time. Lives have been touched by the way he lived and now lives will be saved through his passing.”
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Dr. Bryan Oliver, Morgan Academy’s headmaster, told AL.com Tellier was an organ donor.
In his own statement announcing Tellier’s death, Oliver said Tellier will “never be forgotten for who he was and what he means to Morgan Academy.”
“Caden loved the Lord with all his heart and was a shining light every day he graced the halls of Morgan Academy,” Oliver wrote. “He was a student, a friend, an athlete and most important a Christ follower.”
Michael McClendon, executive director of the Alabama Independent School Association, told CBS News Sunday “it is believed that Caden suffered a ruptured blood vessel in his brain following a routine play in which he was carrying the ball and was tackled to the ground.” McClendon cautioned that the school is still gathering details about the accident and it may be some time before more is known about the injury.
Morgan Academy canceled all sports activities for this week, Oliver told the network.
A GoFundMe page raising funds to support Tellier’s family had raised almost $75,000 as of early Monday. “One way we can minister to the Tellier family as they grieve this tragedy is to cover all of their many medical, life flight, and funeral expenses and time out of work,” the fundraiser reads. “Thank you for loving on this family as they walk this difficult road. Live like Caden.”
