A DeKalb County teenager remained in the intensive care unit at Grady Memorial Hospital Friday after being critically injured in a snowboarding accident last weekend.
Thomas Sowell, 15, was on a "winter sports weekend" with Boy Scout Troop 77 when he took a fall Sunday at Cataloochee Ski Resort, according to the troop's website.
Sowell, a student at Lakeside High School, suffered a severe brain injury in the fall.
Members of Oak Grove United Methodist Church, which sponsors the troop and where Sowell's family worships, held a prayer service Wednesday night for the teen.
"He was on a beginner's slope, wearing a helmet and goggles, doing everything he was supposed to do," senior pastor Glenn Ethridge told CBS Atlanta.
Sowell was rushed to a hospital near the ski slope after the accident, and was transferred to Grady on Monday.
The scout troop has set up a special website to provide updates from the family on Sowell's condition.
In a Tuesday posting on that website. Sowell's mother, Virginia Sowell, said she was grateful for the prayers and support.
"Please don't stop praying," Virginia Sowell wrote.
"I wish I could talk with each of you personally," she said. "Emotionally I won't be able to read or answer all the emails, but please know I am eternally grateful for your good wishes."
On Thursday, Virginia Sowell updated the site with news that her son had developed a lung infection, which, she said, "is cause for serious concern," because the infection threatens to lower an already-depleted blood oxygen level even lower.
She also posted a bit of good news, saying that her son, though still unconscious, had responded to instructions from his doctor to squeeze his hands and wiggle his toes.
"According to the doctors, the amount of brain activity required to simply lift a finger is significant, so any response at this point is encouraging," she wrote.
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