I made a call at about 7:30pm and Matt Gfeller was still hanging in there. They made a change on the life support decision and decided to keep him on Life Support until all of the outside family could be called in.
At 7:30 Matt was not doing well but he was still with us and please continue to keep Matt Gfeller and his family in your prayers.
Tom Keller has comments from Page HS Athletic Director Rusty Lee and Pirate head football coach Kevin Gillespie at www.news-record.com.
Be sure to watch your local news for further updates. Dave Goren of WXII TV 12 Sports should have more info on his 11pm sports built around the Olympic coverage from NBC.
The young man Matt Gfeller of Winston-Salem Reynolds who was injured in last night’s game with Page at RJ Reynolds was taken off of life support this morning at 10am. Matt has taken a turn for the worse and things do not look good but everyone is still hoping for a miracle.
Gfeller developed a brain bleed at around 8am and went into a comma. Gfeller is a linebacker for the Reynolds Demons and took a block in last night’s game and went to the ground and had trouble getting up.
The Page trainer rushed on to the field to offer assistance and then the emergency medical help came in and took over from there. Gfeller was transported by ambulance to the Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.
Again the news is not good right now for Matt Gfeller, so if you can, please say a prayer for him and his family and at least keep them in your thoughts throughout the afternoon.
News from earlier today on the Matt Gfeller situation from the Winston-Salem Journal and their on-line news source journalnow.com:
Principal Art Paschal of Reynolds said that Gfeller was taken into surgery early this morning.
“I got a call from a friend around 3:30 and was told that things had taken a turn for the worst,” Paschal said. “So I headed back into the hospital along with (football coach) Mike (Propst) and we stayed until about 5:30.
“It’s been a long night and an absolute nightmare.”
Gfeller, a former student at Summit School who would have attended his first day of classes as a sophomore at Reynolds on Monday, was blocked by a Page player on a running play with 9:50 left in Friday’s game. After a delay of nearly 40 minutes, he was taken to the hospital by ambulance.
“From what I understand, when I left him this morning it was a serious brain injury,” Paschal said. “I have not talked to the family since he has gone on life support, but it was a very serious brain injury, and it just doesn’t look real good.
“When I left him last night, he was still breathing on his own. I have heard that he had gotten even worse than that.”
Paschal said that Bob and Lisa Gfeller, Matt’s parents, are presidents of Reynolds’ athletics booster club and were the PTSA presidents two years ago. Paschal said that Matt Gfeller did his Eagle Scout project at Reynolds, creating an outdoor eating area outside of the cafeteria. The Gfellers also have a son, Robert, who graduated from Reynolds in June and a daughter, Haley, who is a junior.
“I got to know Matt a little bit through his project, and I have been impressed with his perseverance on his project,” Paschal said. “Bob and Lisa are good friends and words cannot describe what kind of tragedy this is.
“The show of support for the family, the show of love for the family was very touching. But the fact that you are there on pins and needles for a 15-year-old kid, it tears at you, literally tears at you.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime, one-in-a-million hit for this to happen to a healthy kid. He was healthy and well-padded. He was still breathing on the field, but basically they said the damage was done, right then and there. I have never heard of anything like it.”