Chip: Devastating football injury in northern Minnesota puts Gophers, Vikings angst in perspective

BleedGopher

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per Chip:

Grand Rapids High quarterback Andy Thomsen had one final play in a preseason scrimmage on Aug. 28. He kept the ball on a run and was tackled in what his coach thought was a routine play.

"It looked like a football play I've seen a thousand times," Thunderhawks coach Greg Spahn said.

Everyone who knows Thomsen, a North Dakota State commit, marvels at his toughness so when he was slow to get up and then walked off the field hunched over, leaning to one side, "we knew as parents that something was wrong," his dad, Shannon, said.

Thomsen passed a concussion test on the sideline. A family friend who works in the medical field talked with Thomsen by phone after he got home. Thomsen noted that he was having trouble hearing in his left ear, which prompted an immediate trip to the emergency room.

Per COVID protocols, Shannon waited in the car while his wife, Tresa, went inside with their son. An hour later, Tresa texted her husband to come inside, that the prognosis was serious. Shannon thought maybe a broken collarbone.

Doctors in Grand Rapids had sent the CT scan to a Duluth neurologist who told the family that Thomsen needed to be flown by medical jet to the Twin Cities for surgery at Hennepin County Medical Center.

He had fractured his C6 vertebrae located in the lower neck/shoulders area. Doctors feared that further damage to the discs could lead to paralysis.


Go Gophers!!
 

This is so sad to hear. As a grandparent watching the grandsons play...I hold my breathe every time they make contact on offense or defense.

Hopefully the end result is positive.
 

This is so sad to hear. As a grandparent watching the grandsons play...I hold my breathe every time they make contact on offense or defense.

Hopefully the end result is positive.
So true. Although I'm not in your exact situation, these are kids that I was one once a long time ago. I hope this comes out good. Always hate to hear about this.
 




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