A middle school boy tragically died after suffering a head injury during football practice in Madison, West Virginia. He was 13.
Cohen Craddock, an eighth-grader at Madison Middle School in West Virginia, injured his head while practicing with the team on Friday, executive director of the Boone County Ambulance Authority Joseph Smith told local news outlet WSAZ.
Smith said that paramedics responded to the incident and Craddock was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment. Sadly, he passed away due to his injuries the following day, per WSAZ.
Cohen’s father, Ryan Craddock, spoke to NBC News on Tuesday and said Cohen sustained the injury after colliding with his teammates and falling down.
The father said the injury “created brain swelling which started a snowball effect, which ultimately led to him passing away.”
Ryan described his son as “very, very smart,” and an excellent math student with aspirations in computer engineering. “As a father, I couldn’t have been more proud,” he told NBC.
Speaking to WSAZ, Ryan said his son liked to make jokes and enjoyed playing football at his school for both the sport and the social aspect. “He liked the social gathering part, just making buddies,” Ryan told the local station.
“I can’t stress enough for the parents to hug their children,” he continued to WSAZ. Ryan said he has been in “disbelief” since his son’s passing. “You wish it was a bad dream you could wake up from. It’s agony inside. I can’t put words to [it]. It’s terrible.”
Madison Middle School in West Virginia.
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Following the tragedy, Ryan said he plans to raise awareness about student-athlete safety protocol, specifically urging Madison Middle School and other youth football programs to utilize Guardian Caps, a protected layer for athletes’ heads.
“I want to take the loss of my boy to try to protect the other guys,” Ryan told WSAZ, adding, “I don’t want anybody else to go through what we are going through currently.”
The father told NBC he thinks there “could have been a little bit of a different outcome” for his son if the caps or protection for Cohen’s head had been in use.
“And I would like to at least protect any and all the other kids that I can, starting at the county level, if I can move it on to the state or national level, to push for these kids to start wearing Guardian Caps at least in practice or however far they want to take it,” he told NBC.
