A 14-year-old boy from Oklahoma suffers a stroke while attending a wrestling camp and requires artificial respiration after emergency brain surgery
- Luke Adams of Tuttle, Oklahoma suffered the unexpected stroke after winning a wrestling match
- The eighth grader remains hospitalized and has begun a “marathon, not a sprint” recovery cycle
A 14-year-old boy suffered a stroke while attending wrestling camp and had to be put on a ventilator after being taken to hospital for emergency brain surgery.
Luke Champion, from Tuttle, was attending a camp at Oklahoma State University and had just won a fight when he lost consciousness on Thursday.
The middle school student was taken to Stillwater Hospital, where he underwent multiple brain surgeries, including a thrombectomy and a craniotomy.
He remains hospitalized but awake without the ventilation he originally needed for support and is beginning recovery, his mother told News 4.
Medical professionals are still unsure what caused the blood clot and whether or not it was genetic.
Luke Champion attended wrestling camp at Oklahoma State University. He had just won his wrestling match Thursday when he suffered a stroke and was admitted to Stillwater Hospital and then to Oklahoma University Children’s Hospital in Oklahoma City
Champion’s family shared footage of his recovery in hospital, telling friends: “I’m fine.”
Luke’s mother, Valorie Champion, told the broadcaster about the horrific moment she realized her son had suffered a stroke.
“I was just telling his brother that he looked sleepy and then he sat back and I was like, ‘We need to wake up your brother because he has to wrestle again,'” she said.
“I called to him to wake up and he opened his eyes and as soon as he did his face drooped and he started slurring his words.”
She said she acted quickly, knowing it was a stroke after her other child suffered a stroke when they were babies.
When they got to the hospital, “he immediately went in and had a thrombectomy done, where they basically remove the clot,” Luke’s mother told the broadcaster.
“He started feeling brain swelling and wouldn’t just wake up.”
“They went in and did a craniotomy, which means they basically opened up the side of his skull and allowed his brain to expand,” she explained.
On Monday, doctors woke Luke and took him off the ventilator.
Luke Champion (right) is pictured with his brother in a photo posted to Facebook by his mother Valorie
Champion’s mother Valorie spoke to a local broadcaster about the frightening experience
In video captured from his hospital bed, Luke told News 4 that he was “fine.”
The eighth-grader starts physical therapy on Tuesday and doctors have said his recovery will be “a marathon, not a sprint”.
Luke’s friends and members of the community gathered for a vigil at Tuttle Middle School on Monday.
“We gather tonight to pray and hopefully allow for a smooth recovery for him and his family,” Kristen Finn, a Tuttle teacher and trainer, told News 4.
“We’re just asking that people pray with us,” she added.
In his video message, Luke said he wanted to thank people for their prayers, adding, “I love you.”
Valorie Champion said her son was very touched when he heard about the vigil.
“I’m starting to realize he’s in the hospital, but we feel all the prayers. We feel all the love.’