Football injury leaves suburban high school player hospitalized for a week

WESTMONT, Ill. (WLS) -- The physical nature of the sport of football, where large bodies collide at high speeds on every play, is a concern of anyone who puts on a helmet at any age.

High school senior Kamron Singleton's last game of the season in October was nearly his last one.

"I couldn't breathe, the air was knocked out of me," he said

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In the 10th play of only the first quarter of Westmont High vs. Aurora Central Catholic, he was badly injured in a tackle.

"Next thing I feel, I just feel something just hit me in my stomach," he said.

"When the doctors tell you, 'Oh, if your son would've gotten on that bus he could've had septic shock and he could've died. He could've not been here,' as a parent to hear that, that does affect you," said Shirkeya Wash, mother.

In video provided by Wash, you can see her high school son getting tackled as the football flew over his head. ABC7 has paused the video before impact.

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His younger sister, a cheerleader, was watching from the sidelines.

"Usually, you know, I would let it happen. He gets it. But something felt wrong," said Keniya Singleton, younger sister.

Kamron was taken out of the game and hoped, he said, to eventually get back in.

"But, like the next 30, 45 minutes I'm just still in the same position. Ended up throwing up. The ambulance came to check me out. They didn't know what was going on," he recalled.

"He was like breathing real shaky. And he was just like, 'I'm cold. I'm just cold,'" said his older sister Kyla Singleton.

It was in her car, headed home, when things took a painful turn.

"We were going over train tracks, and he just screamed for us to stop," she recalled.

Kamron was taken to the hospital, where his family learned his injury was much worse than they imagined.

"Come to find out Kamron had a tear from his small intestines, well, his stomach to his small intestines," Wash said.

After three days in the ICU and a week total in the hospital after reconstructive surgery, his plans to hopefully return to the field are not deterred.

"I still love the sport, and it's not something I want to stop," Kamron said.