High school football player dies after game injury

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Monday, November 7, 2016
Texas HS football player dies after game injury
A Texas family is shocked and in mourning tonight after their 15-year-old son collapsed during a football game and later died.

JOSHUA, Texas -- A Texas family is shocked after their 15-year-old son collapsed during a football game and later died.

The Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office shows Aaron Singleton died just before 3 p.m. the day after family members say he fell hard hitting his face mask on the ground during a junior varsity game Thursday.

"He was responsive when he left," his mother Cassondra Singleton said about her son's condition as he was taken from the field to Cook Children's Hospital. "He was not responsive when he got here."

Singleton's uncle says doctors found a blood clot near Singleton's brain stem after he suffered seizures after his fall.

By mid-day Friday the family was preparing to take him off of life support.

"He's unresponsive," his mother said. "They've done everything they can. The part they need to reach they cannot reach surgically."

"It's not supposed to happen!" Singleton cried as friends and family gathered her in a group hug. "It's not supposed to happen!"

Family and friends say Aaron was athletic and outgoing. Singleton's mother said she tried to make him drop out of football.

"Last semester I told him you're not playing football anymore. You're done, but he said, 'Mom! Mom! Come on! Please!' I said 'no you're switching classes,' but just a couple a day before school was over I said 'OK I'll let you play.' "

Singleton's mother says when her son realized he wasn't going to accomplish his dream of playing pro sports, he decided to be a physical therapist so he could help others. His family says he will still help others even in death.

"He will live on through others because he's going to donate his organs," Cassondra Singleton said tearfully. "It's what he would want to be the hero to others."

KTVT reports that a family friend said even though Aaron Singleton was legally dead because of no brain activity, his body would remain on life support until his organs are donated within the next 36 to 48 hours.