The mother of a severely injured college football player from Atlanta said Friday her son is still fighting and slowly progressing.
“He just has the resilience of a champion, and I just still see that in him,” Staci Abercrombie, the mother of Christion, said during a news conference at the Shepherd Center in Atlanta. “When he lies in bed, I still see the champion, and we see his personality come out.”
Christion, a 20-year-old sophomore linebacker at Tennessee State University, collapsed on the sideline during a Sept. 29 game against Vanderbilt. He told trainers he had a headache and needed oxygen before collapsing.
RELATED: Mom of injured football player: 'We're not blaming. We're blessed'
He was rushed to Vanderbilt University Medical Center in critical condition and underwent emergency surgery for a neurological injury.
Staci Abercrombie hasn’t mentioned any details about her son’s diagnosis, saying she wants to keep it private.
Christion was able to breathe on his own for the first time last week after two weeks on a ventilator and was transferred Wednesday to the Shepherd Center’s Intensive Care Unit. His condition has been upgraded to stable.
The Shepherd Center specializes in spinal cord and brain injury rehabilitation, along with medical research.
MORE: Injured college football player now breathing on his own
Abercrombie’s doctor, Anna Elmers, told Channel 2 Action News he gave them a thumbs up and could follow occasional commands.
“He is squeezing the hands of his parents on command, and that’s a big deal, but it is inconsistent, and (he’s) not fully able to communicate,” Elmers said.
She expects Christion to remain in this stage of recovery for possibly up to six months, and then he would go into rehabilitation.
Staci Abercrombie said her family is relying on their faith to get them through.
“I believe God's plan was different than our plan for Christion,” she said. “He stated he wanted to be closer to God, and this was the change that needed to happen in his life for that change.”
The Atlanta native is a graduate of Westlake High School in south Fulton County. While in high school, Christion was friends with De'Antre Turman, a Creekside High player who died after breaking his neck during a routine tackle in August 2013.
“We saw injuries prior to Christion’s, and it never changed our mind (about football),” Staci said. “Now that it happened to my son, my perspective still hasn't changed. The game is still the game that we all love.”
RELATED: Injured college player from Atlanta lost high school friend to football
In other news:
About the Author
