A Covid-19 patient connected to a ventilator tube in the ICU ward at the General University Hospital in Prague, Czech Republic, on Friday, March 26, 2021. The Czech Republic, which has suffered more than most parts of the eastern Europe region, is set to prolong a state of emergency on Friday. Photographer: Milan Jaros/Bloomberg via Getty Images
A 21-year-old defensive lineman for Jackson State’s football team had to be resuscitated and put on a ventilator after suffering cardiac arrest Wednesday morning,
Kaseem Vauls is currently in stable condition, “but still critical” as of Thursday night, his father William said in a series of tweets.
Vauls had been rushed into the University of Mississippi Medical Center on Tuesday night with stomach pains before suffering cardiac arrest Wednesday morning.
He was placed on a ventilator and underwent emergency surgery later that afternoon, and remains “heavily sedated,” his father revealed.
The Clarion-Ledger reports that Vauls’ heart was reportedly only functioning at around 10 to 15 percent, a cardiologist told his father.
William stated that his stomach pains were the result of his heart failing, and added that “his liver was suffering a build up” of toxins.
“What the doctors think happened, that when Kaseem’s heart was failing, that what was giving him the stomach pains,” William told The Clarion-Ledger. “His liver was suffering as fluid built up with toxins in his liver, kidneys and blood. All those toxins built up in his blood stream and his heart could not operate properly and the machine is being used to clean out the blood and toxins.”
Vauls had been working out with the JSU football team, and even posted videos to his Twitter account showing him in the weight room deadlifting 315 pounds, according to the Clarion-Ledger.
However, he didn’t let anyone know about the stomach pains he was experiencing, his father told the outlet.
Williams has since provided updates on his son’s health via Vauls Twitter account, and asked for prayers while posting his location in the hospital’s intensive care unit, encouraging JSU athletes to visit him as he recovers.
He also tweeted his cell phone number while asking for assistance in contacting JSU head coach T.C. Taylor we well as assistant head coach Otis Riddley.
Williams went on to post an update Thursday morning revealing Vauls is “progressing,” as doctors slowly decrease his medication and “input of the machine.” He likely won’t wake up on his own until day four on the machine, Williams added.
“The machine is so his organs can rest and not work so hard,” William tweeted. “Then they will lower down the sedation so he can wake up on his own but that might be until day 4 on the machine.”
Meanwhile, Vauls’ father has been provided a hotel for five nights after traveling to JSU from South Carolina, per The Clarion-Ledger.
The 6-foot-1, 250-pound lineman did not appear in a game during the 2022 season, as he transferred To JSU after redshirting at Alabama A&M in his first year.
Vauls was a three-star recruit out of Irmo High School, his 247sports profile states.
The news of Vauls medical emergency comes just over a month after Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin’s similar incident after suffering cardiac arrest while making a tackle during a game against the Cincinnati Bengals on Jan. 2, as previously reported by The Shade Room.
Hamlin was given CPR on the field before being rushed to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center after collapsing on the field mid-game.
Hamlin’s health scare and eventual recovery ultimately brought the football community together and even helping raise over six million dollars for his toy drive fundraiser, along with spreading awareness for CPR training, The Shade Room reported last month.
