Forsyth football player collapses, has brain surgery

By Ty Tagami

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A Forsyth County high school student who collapsed during football practice Wednesday underwent brain surgery and remained hospitalized Thursday, according to a media report.

Hundreds of North Forsyth High School students gathered around a flagpole Thursday morning to pray for Josh Haddock, 17, according to the website of the Forsyth County News.

“They weren’t really expecting him to survive the surgery," his mother Natalie told the Forsyth County newspaper. "They were preparing us for him to die.”

But, she said, he was "doing really great."

Natalie Haddock said her son told a trainer he had a headache during practice. The boy went into distress about 5 p.m. Wednesday, shortly after football practice began.

“[The trainer] knew right away that something was wrong because his speech was slurred and he just kind of slumped over right there,” she said.

Jennifer Caracciolo, school system spokeswoman, said the trainer “went into action quickly to keep him breathing.”

“The ambulance and other officials arrived almost immediately,” she said.

Josh was taken to Northside Hospital-Forsyth then transferred to the hospital’s main campus in Atlanta, where neurosurgeons operated to drain blood that was building around his brain.

Caracciolo said the bleeding on Haddock’s brain had occurred for at least a day.

Natalie Haddock said a hit her son took during practice Tuesday may have set off the bleeding.