ATLANTA – It’s been 20 days since Christion Abercrombie was hit on the football field during a Tennessee State University game, and his family said it is their faith in God that gives them strength he will recover.
“This is not the journey we planned. We are still fighting and grateful for day 20,” said Staci Abercrombie, Christion’s mother.
Dr. Anna Elmers, a staff physician at Shepard Center in Atlanta, said nurses who have taken care of the 20-year-old have been giving each other high fives in his hospital room because they are so happy about the positive responses they are getting from him.
“Occasionally, he will give us a thumbs up,” Elmer said. “His responses are inconsistent but that is very normal at this stage.”
The sophomore linebacker from Smyrna suffered a head injury during a game against Vanderbilt on Sept. 29. He underwent emergency surgery at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and was transferred to the Shepard Center this week, which specializes in spinal chord and brain injury treatment.
Elmer said Christion will likely have some sort of deficit or permanent injury from the hit but it is too early to tell.
“We’ve had to restrain his arms, which sounds terrible but is actually a great sign,” Elmer said. “That means he’s trying to pull things out and he’s moving everything. It’s a great predictor.”
His mother said she was in the stands that day and didn’t see what happened.
“We did not know any injury had occurred, we did not know he had collapsed and went to the hospital - we were in the stands,” Staci Abercrombie said. “That’s the peaceful part – I didn’t see anything that concerned me. It was God’s plan. One of my biggest fears is that I would not be able to be there when he needed me, but he was strong on his own.”
Tennessee State University is celebrating homecoming this weekend and she thanked the school for their support.
“We want them to know that we stand with them,” she said. “We stand with them because they’ve stood with us every day at the hospital, and we stand with them now as they prepare for homecoming.”
She said Christion was born premature and is a “humble young man because he has always experienced challenges.”
“We see his personality coming out,” Staci Abercrombie said. “Even though there are inconsistencies with his commands, we still see him. We still see that fighter.”
Abercrombie graduated from Westlake High School as a standout football player. Friends and family held a prayer vigil for him last week.
Staci Abercrombie thanked the South Fulton community for their support.
“It is the strength that we are getting from the community that keeps us going,” she said. “His dream was to go to the NFL, and maybe God’s plan is larger than that. We have to accept that and continue to pray and go through it. He has the resilience of a champion.”
