Mother of Hoosiers football player makes heartfelt plea as son fights coronavirus
A century ago, a pandemic spread across the United States, killing thousands and disrupting lives from coast to coast.
At that time, many people wore masks to slow the spread of the disease, but there were many who resisted.
That same scene is playing out in 2020 as people in the United States balk at the mask requirements cities and businesses have instituted during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The mother of Brady Feeney, an incoming freshman with the Indiana football team, hopes those anti-maskers will have a change of heart. Feeney is dealing with the coronavirus, which he was diagnosed with after working out with the Hoosiers football team.
“I am not one to post about personal family issues because I am not one to ask for help very often!” Debbie Rucker wrote in a Facebook post. “However, in this crazy, chaotic world where a global crisis is not being taken seriously I have decided to post my personal family crisis with the permission of my son, Brady, who is struggling with this virus! I am asking each of my friends as a request from my HEART, PLEASE take this serious and wear a mask, exercise social distancing and realize by wearing a mask you could be helping protect those that you love! PLEASE.”
Feeney, an offensive lineman who played at Christian Brothers College in St. Louis, verbally committed to the Hoosiers last year.
Rucker gave a timeline of Feeney’s illness this summer.
“My son was negative when he got tested at the beginning of volunteer workouts,” she wrote. “Within three weeks he and multiple others tested positive. His university has done everything right by shutting down workouts and retesting the whole team. Unfortunately this virus hit my son very hard compared to most of his teammates. Here was a kid in perfect health, great physical condition and due to the virus ended up going to the ER because of breathing issues. After 14 days of hell battling the horrible virus, his school did additional testing on all those that were positive. My son even received extra tests because he was one of the worst cases. Now we are dealing with possible heart issues! He is still experiencing additional symptoms and his blood work is indicating additional problems. Bottom line, even if your son’s schools do everything right to protect them, they CAN’T PROTECT THEM!! I pray my son recovers from this horrible virus and can lead a healthy normal life!! Football does not really matter when your child’s health is in jeopardy!! Think about it!!! My heart is hurting and I pray for all of these kids and for the people making the decisions about the season!!!
“Please protect all of those around you and please wear a mask!!!”
You can read Rucker’s post here.
Feeney, who is from Dardenne Prairie, Missouri, shared this message on Twitter:
This story was originally published August 4, 2020 at 12:19 PM.
