PENN HILLS — The mother of a Penn Hills High School football player says she dropped her 16-year-old off at practice on Monday and the next thing she knew, she was getting a call that her son had collapsed. The 16-year-old is at Children’s Hospital recovering after he suffered from heat stroke and a seizure during practice. His mom says his temperature was 105 degrees when he was rushed there.
Korey Buckner, 16, has been playing football since he was 5 years old. He’s familiar with training in the heat, but what happened to him on Monday during Penn Hills football practice was a first.
Qiana Buckner said, “He had heat stroke, which produced a seizure.”
Qiana Buckner is Korey’s mom. She says her son was fed and well hydrated when she dropped him off for practice on Monday at 3 p.m. That day, the Penn Hills School District said football practice was moved inside to the Fralic building due to rain.
“The Fralic center does not have air conditioning, they do have a huge, gigantic fan but it just blows hot air,” Qiana explained.
The school says the doors were open to allow for airflow, but Buckner says her son was sprinting inside the sweltering building for over an hour and started collapsing.
She said, “When he initially started falling, that’s when the heat stroke started. The final collapse is when his body started to shut down and overwork.”
Buckner says she credits fellow students, the athletic trainer and a few of the coaches for jumping in to save her son.
“When I got there, Korey was disoriented; he didn’t know where he was. He had white stuff coming out of his mouth. His tongue was swollen,” she said.
The 16-year-old was rushed to Children’s Hospital, where doctors say he’d also suffered a seizure and that his kidneys had been damaged.
Today, the Penn Hills School District released a statement saying: “The health and safety of our students remain our top priority. Our coaching staff and athletic personnel follow established protocols for player safety.”
Buckner says she’s questioning what that protocol actually is.
She said, “When they are in your care, as a coach, they’re your responsibility. You need to make sure they’re hydrated, not running for an hour and 15 minutes non-stop with no water and no break. Take accountability for what you did and did not do. This is not my son’s fault.”
Korey suffered kidney damage and remains at Children’s Hospital, where doctors are working to reverse the damage. It’s unclear when he’ll be released.
Qiana Buckner says both she and her son are thankful for the outpouring of support they’ve received from the community and parents.
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