Starr’s Mill JV running back Grant Aasen has made a miraculous recovery
from brain surgery following an on-field injury last week during an away game at Northgate.
Aasen went home Thursday and despite a few short term memory problems, he is otherwise unscathed. Which is especially amazing for a kid who had brain surgery to remove an eight centimeter blood clot from his brain.
“He’s so normal,” said Grant’s astounded mother, Tina Aasen. “… He’s our miracle kid.”
Tina Aasen’s voice simultaneously inflected a tone of relief, thanks and praise for the healing of her son, who left the field one week earlier dazed before collapsing on the sidelines and being treated within minutes by Coweta County EMTs.
At the hospital, Starr’s Mill coaches and the principal joined other parents in the waiting room into the wee hours of the morning as Grant underwent the four-hour surgery. Dr. Paul King at Atlanta Medical Center removed two pieces of his skull to reach the clot, and the best news was that there was no swelling, Tina Aasen said.
The Aasens credited the quick response of EMTs and also the intervention of staff at the Atlanta Medical Center hospital where Grant was taken immediately following the injury.
It is not known how Grant suffered the injury, but doctors described it as a whiplash type of injury.
The community has been so tremendously supportive during the entire process, she said, adding her heartfelt thanks for the many, many prayers offered up on Grant’s behalf.
“We cannot thank everyone enough for their prayers and thoughts for Grant,” the family said in a statement.
Tina Aasen noted that the Starr’s Mill football team showed their solidarity with her son.
“The football team shaved half their heads in support of Grant,” she said. Doctors used some 60 staples to close the wound created by the surgery, she added.
Tina Aasen drew a parallel to a similar situation which shows just how fortunate and blessed her son was. Another Atlanta area football player who suffered a similar injury earlier this season, but had a much smaller clot, is facing a steep recovery, having to re-learn how to walk and talk, she said.
So yes, she is tremendously grateful to have her son home and doing so well post-surgery. And the doctors expect him to make a full recovery with no long-term problems.
Grant will be staying at home for approximately a month while he builds his strength back up, Aasen said. Meanwhile, the Aasen family is urging family and friends to support a ballot initiative that would help provide additional funding for trauma care in Georgia.
The second Constitutional amendment question on the ballot, if approved, would create a new $10 fee assessed on annual auto tag bills to provide additional funding for trauma care.
Without the trauma care provided to him at the hospital in downtown Atlanta, Grant might have suffered a dramatically different outcome, Aasen said.
“Grant was fortunate to get quick, expert care for his injury,” the Aasens said in the statement to the media. “Without that immediate care, the outcome could have been tragic. Georgia needs to upgrade its trauma network so that all Georgians can have access to trauma care when they need it.”
The Aasens were to attend last night’s Northgate-Starr’s Mill football game at Northgate to recognize the hospital staff and EMTs who saved Grant, and his mother noted the school has been terribly sympathetic to the family as well.
