Brady Feeney is a freshman offensive lineman for the University of Indiana. He is dealing with dangerous complications due to COVID-19. His mom, Debbie Rucker, shared a heart-rending message about his situation on her Facebook page.
Rucker, clearly distressed, wrote “in this crazy, chaotic world where a global crisis is not being taken seriously I have decided to post my personal family crisis with the permission of my son, Brady who is struggling with this virus!”
She implored everyone to take COVID-19 seriously and wear a mask.
“I am asking each of my friends as a request from my HEART, PLEASE take this serious and wear a mask, exercise social distancing and realize by wearing a mask you could be helping protect those that you love! PLEASE,” Rucker wrote.
Brady Feeney spent time in ER, might have heart issues due to COVID-19
Then, Rucker shared her story. In it, she made it clear that even with schools doing “everything right to protect” the student-athletes, “they CAN’T PROTECT THEM!!”
“My son was negative when he got tested at the beginning of volunteer workouts. Within three weeks he and multiple others tested positive. His university has done everything right by shutting down workouts and retesting the whole team. Unfortunately this virus hit my son very hard compared to most of his teammates. Here was a kid in perfect health, great physical condition and due to the virus ended up going to the ER because of breathing issues. After 14 days of hell battling the horrible virus, his school did additional testing on all those that were positive. My son even recieved extra tests because he was one of the worst cases. Now we are dealing with possible heart issues! He is still experiencing additional symptoms and his blood work is indicating additional problems. Bottom line, even if your son’s schools do everything right to protect them, they CAN’T PROTECT THEM!! I pray my son recovers from this horrible virus and can lead a healthy normal life!! Football does not really matter when your child’s health is in jeopardy!! Think about it!!! My heart is hurting and I pray for all of these kids and for the people making the decisions about the season!!!”
Just a tragic circumstance that could have been avoided, and Feeney isn’t alone.
On Monday, another college football freshman, Arizona wide receiver Jaden Mitchell, also shared he had a harrowing experience with COVID-19. He had the coronavirus for three weeks, was quarantined for four weeks and lost 14 pounds — weight he is still struggling to put back on.
Boston Red Sox pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez has a heart condition due to COVID-19 that hopefully will improve, but it’s costing him the entire 2020 MLB season.
Even healthy young people without underlying conditions are getting very sick — or worse. It begs the question: Is playing college football this year worth it?