Keeton Davis was hit by multiple players last week that caused him to suffer a spinal injury.
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HALLSVILLE, Texas — A lot of kids in East Texas dream of taking the field for their hometown team on Friday nights in the fall. And that dream starts early with junior high ball.
Hallsville's Keeton Davis suited up at quarterback for seventh grade football B Team.
During last week's game against Pine Tree, Davis was hit by multiple players after he was already down. Unable to move, he was carted off the field on a stretcher.
Davis was transferred to a Fort Worth hospital where he was diagnosed with an acute traumatic injury to the cervical spine. He was told he can never play football again.
"Keeton was down longer than what I'm use to seeing," said family friend, Kaydee Gills. "As soon as I got down to the field, he lifted his hand and it was shaking."
Davis' mom, Misty Chastain was at work when she was told what happened.
"I got the call, and was told he had a neck injury and he couldn't move," said Chastain. "I didn't want anything bad to happen to him, to him, it was a long ambulance ride."
Davis can't lift anything over 5 lbs., and can't play contact sports for the rest of his life.
He has 4-6 weeks of recovery before he goes back to Fort Worth for another MRI. Until then, he has to take daily medication and rest.
But, just because he can't play, doesn't mean he isn't an integral part of the team.
"We all brought this to the table, and we kind of had this idea, if you can't be out there on the field with us, we're going to make sure you're a part of this team, because you started the season with us," said Coach Chase Hiles. "You're going to finish with us in whatever form. Just for him to be in that kind of aspect of things, on the sideline and being like a coach and helping us out with that student morale and everything -- that's a really great task for him to do and he jumped on board with it quick."
Davis and his family urge the community to use his story as a lesson.
"If I could say one thing is that the coaches would focus a little more on how to hit each other," said Gills. "If these boys are taught young, where to hit, how to hit, maybe a little more intensely on that part of it, there won't be so many injuries."
Davis' family has started a GoFundMe to help with his medical bills.
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