High school football player Damon Janes has died three days after suffering a hit on the head during a game a week ago, Daily Mail reported Tuesday.
Damon James, 16, from Western New York passed away Monday due to the injuries he received at a high school football game a week earlier, at Women & Children's Hospital in Buffalo.
A junior at Brocton Central School, Janes was reportedly running back on the Westfield/Brocton team when he suddenly lost consciousness after receiving a helmet-to-helmet collision in the third quarter of a game against Portville Friday.
Authorities said Damon Janes' official cause of death is yet to be determined, but previous reports pointed out that it was due to the helmet-to-helmet collision injury he had sustained during a game, Fox Sports reported.
However, the parents of the young football player already released a statement expressing their "gratitude to those who have supported and prayed for Damon and his family."
"Our heart goes out to the Janes family," Portville Coach Gary Swetland told the Oleans (N.Y.) Times Herald. "It's just a tragic, tragic circumstance. Our players are saddened, our families are saddened, our school is saddened, our coaches are saddened, our officials are saddened, bus drivers, everybody. There is no one who isn't desperately saddened by this."
According to reports, days before Damon's death, local community friends and even strangers had spent days praying together and holding vigils in hopes of the 16-year-old's recovery.
Chairman of the Section VI Football Federation Ken Stoldt told Buffalo News that the local football community is "deeply saddened" over the high school player's death.
Witness recounts stated Damon was rushed to Olean General Hospital prior to being sent to a Buffalo medical center where he apparently died just three days later without even gaining consciousness.
Students in Brocton, Portville, and Westfield donned school colors Monday in honor of Damon James' "untimely passing."
Meanwhile, all homecoming and sporting event have been canceled at Brocton Central School in the wake of the tragedy.
Grief counselors have been brought in to assist students and staff on coping with the tragic loss.
On Twitter, hundreds of support messages have been posted with the hashtag #PrayForDamon.
According to Jamestown Post Journal, Democrat Senator Chuck Schumer also commented on the untimely passing of the young football player via the said social media platform saying, "Praying for Damon and the entire Brocton community from DC today."
Daily Mail reported that another 16-year-old, De'Antre Turman, had died a few weeks earlier. The Creekside High School junior in Fairburn, Georgia suffered from vertebral fracture during a game, which led to his death.
Based on the Annual Survey of Football Injury Research prepared by the National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research at the University of North Carolina, 25 high school football players suffered from fatal injuries in the U.S. within the decade.
Meanwhile, Deadspin reported that within the same span of time, 71 players received "catastrophic" cervical injuries while 78 had suffered from irreversible brain damage.
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