Greenfield football player Blake Rodehaver had to be airlifted to Vanderbilt Hospital during a game this week against South Fulton after a “medical event” took place on the football field.
The Greenfield High School senior passed out and stopped breathing on the football field.
With minutes left in the game, and Greenfield leading over South Fulton, 20-14, Rodehaver went down on the sidelines to which Medical professionals and others immediately responded, beginning emergency treatment.
They performed CPR until a Life Flight helicopter arrived to take Rodehaver to the hospital.
“I caught out of the corner of my eye that a player was down on the sideline, and I looked around immediately trying to find Blake, and I saw that it was Blake,” said Blake’s father, Jason Rodehaver.
The game was soon stopped and declared a “no contest.”
All his mother could do was watch and pray herself. “It was the most helpless feeling I’ve ever felt in my life to watch my baby, and I couldn’t do anything to get to him,” Shonda Rodehaver said. “We firmly believe a miracle occurred that night on the football field.”
Earlier this week, Rodehaver was in good spirits in his hospital bed.
“I knew there were people who loved me, but I didn’t know just how many there were,” Rodehaver said.
All of Rodehaver’s medical tests have come back normal so far. He is set to get an MRI of his heart, which his family hopes will reveal the reason for the medical emergency.
