An eighth grader in Houston died last week after he suffered a brain injury during a football game.
Cain Lee, 14, was injured during a Southwest Football League game on Oct. 11 and then was placed in a coma for nearly three weeks before passing away at Texas Children’s Hospital on Oct. 30, according to the Houston Chronicle.
“We were in Wellington living for a short period, and Cain was a friend to everyone,” his father Cody Lee said during a remembrance for his son at Friendswood Methodist Church on Wednesday. “I noticed a young man wearing a sweater and I don’t know all the kids’ clothes. I probably don’t even know all my clothes. And I said, ‘He’s got a sweater like you.’ He said, ‘Well, he didn’t have anything nice, Dad. So I’ve been sneaking clothes from home to give him my clothes so he wouldn’t be embarrassed when he was in school.’”
Lee was a multi-sport athlete that also competed in baseball, basketball and track.
He was remembered as someone who was selfless on the field and cared more about “somebody else’s accomplishments,” baseball coach Darrin Forse said, according to the Chronicle.
According to a Facebook post from one of the Lee’s relatives, Troy Carroll, the 14-year-old was only given about a half hour to live after he suffered the injury in the football game.
“After Cains injury on an 10-11-23 they gave him 30 minutes to live,” the post reads. “To prove them wrong and crush their expectations he did 22,840 minutes. 928 times better than what the best doctors in the world thought he could do. And to me that is one of the best descriptions I can give you of his amazing life. Cain has never set his goals to just be better than everyone else. But he was on a completely different level of his own. Cain lived his life by the rule of ONE MORE REP. One more rep on loving harder than anyone else. One more rep on running a sprint, jumping a box jump, lifting weights. One more rep on catching the biggest fish or killing the biggest deer. One more rep in trusting in Gods never ending love and grace.”
Carroll added that the family was “broken” and still trying to “put the pieces back together.”
Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham also sent her condolences to the Lee family after the passing.
“This tremendous loss is heartbreaking; however, we know he is in heaven and we were blessed by the time he spent with us” she wrote on Facebook on Oct. 31. “I want to extend a sincere thank you for all of the kind prayers.”
The football league addressed the tragedy in a letter, per ABC 13 in Houston.
“Our hearts go to the family during this unimaginable tragedy,” part of the letter read.
The league also plans to hold a moment of silence in Lee’s honor before all remaining games this season.