Teenage high school football player Robert Bush is on a life support machine after collapsing on the field at a practice session.
Bush, 17, attends Newfield High School in Selden, New York, and is said to have bent over before collapsing after suffering a "cardiac event" mere minutes into an evening conditioning drill, his older brother, Steve, told Newsday. After coaches performed CPR and used a defibrillator at the scene, the emergency services took the teenager to Stony Brook University Hospital on Long Island.
The cause for the collapse remains unknown, but the family has told the outlet that Bush may have a hereditary condition causing the walls of the heart's left ventricle to thicken. It prevents the heart from receiving or pumping blood around the body during heartbeats.
They said Bush did not previously show signs of having heart problems. The Bush family wants their story to enhance awareness around the importance of thorough check-ups for young people playing sports. The student-athlete remains in the hospital after being admitted on Monday.
“There’s no more brain function,” his brother Steve said Thursday. “We are dealing with the end right now.”
"His heart had stopped on the field, down for about 45 minutes or longer without a pulse," Steve told News 12. "He's currently still on a vent in an induced coma, and they're doing everything to keep him alive at this point."
In joining the football team, Bush sought to improve his health and conditioning after school. His goal was to play varsity football after being originally taught how to play the sport by another of his brothers, Chris.
“He was always trying to get better and better because he was never a tall guy,” his brother Chris told Newsday. “But he’s got the motivation of 50 guys. He’s always trying to make himself better.”
"Send prayers, we need prayers right now," he added to News 12. "We want him to survive."
Chris and Steve are two of Bush's ten siblings. His parents, Robert and Patricia, are said to have fostered over 300 children and adopted Bush while he was a baby. Patricia died of cancer in 2017, and their father is said to have severe medical issues, meaning the siblings, who span various ages, help raise each other.
Donna Boboris is another sibling who has paid tribute to their brother. "Loves anything, loves hugs, he's the best," she said. "He doesn't deserve this. He's just a baby. He's my baby."
Steve shares the heartbreak their whole family feels after the week's events. “He was just like all his older siblings,” he said. "He wanted to get married. He wanted to have kids like all of us. So, as you can tell, knowing where he was in his life and how far he’s taken it just in the last two years, it’s killing us.”
