Olathe East injured player expected to leave intensive care

Two weeks after collapsing on a football field, Olathe East High School senior linebacker James McGinnis is expected to leave intensive care on Monday and be moved to the Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital in Lincoln, Neb., according to a news report on the fox4kc.com website.

McGinnis has been at Overland Park Regional Medical Center since Sept. 12, when he was rushed there for emergency surgery to stop bleeding and reduce swelling around his brain. Since then, McGinnis has started breathing on his own.

“When we first got here, it was one day at a time,” McGinnis’ father, Patrick, said in the FOX 4 news report. “Now we’re actually being able to plan for rehab and we’re really excited about that. That’s one of the reasons we want to come out and really thank the community for their thoughts and prayers, what they did to help us get through this.”

Friends and family have popularized the Twitter hashtag “#PrayForJames” which has also been printed on t-shirts sold by the Olathe East Football Booster Club.

Donations for James McGinnis: James McGinnis Fund c/o Valley View Bank, 13379 S. Blackbob Road, Olathe, KS 66062 913-381-3311

This story was originally published September 26, 2014 at 4:32 PM with the headline "Olathe East injured player expected to leave intensive care."