A high school student has tragically died after suffering a head injury during football practice in Madison, West Virginia. He was 13 years old.
Cohen Craddock, an eighth-grader at Madison Middle School in West Virginia, injured his head while practicing with the team on Friday, Boone County EMS Executive Director Joseph Smith told local news outlet WSAZ.
Smith said paramedics responded to the incident and Craddock was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment. Unfortunately, he died of his injuries the next day, writes WSAZ.
Cohen’s father, Ryan Craddock, spoke to NBC News on Tuesday and said Cohen suffered the injury after colliding with his teammates and falling.
The father said the injury “created brain swelling which started a snowball effect, which ultimately led to his death.”
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Ryan described his son as “very, very smart” and an excellent math student with aspirations in computer engineering. “As a father, I couldn’t be prouder,” he told NBC.
Speaking to WSAZ, Ryan said his son likes to joke around and enjoyed playing football at his school for both the athletic and social aspects. “He liked the part about the social gathering, just making friends,” Ryan told a local station.
“I can’t stress enough that parents hug their kids,” he continued to WSAZ. Ryan said he has been in “disbelief” since his son’s death. “You want it to be a bad dream that you can wake up from. There is agony inside. I can’t express the words [it]. It’s terrible.”
Madison High School in West Virginia.
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In the wake of the tragedy, Ryan said he plans to raise awareness of student-athlete safety protocol, specifically urging Madison high schools and other youth football programs to use Guardian Caps, a protective layer for athletes’ heads.
“I want to accept the loss of my boy to try to protect others,” Ryan told WSAZ, adding, “I don’t want anyone else to go through what we’re going through right now.”
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The father told NBC that he thinks it “could have been a slightly different outcome” for his son if a cap or protection had been used for Cohen’s head.
“And I would like to at least protect any and all other kids that I can, starting at the county level, if I can take it to the state or national level, push for those kids to at least start wearing Guardian Caps in practice or however far they want to go,” he said. is for NBC.
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Source: HIS Education