Lake Mary football player's fight for his life after touchdown, broken arm

Teen?s routine football injury turns into fight for life

Lake Mary High School junior varsity football player Thomas Killingsworth Jr. is recovering at home after a simple broken arm during a touchdown play led to a three-week hospital stay and near-fatal complications.

LAKE MARY, Fla. - A Lake Mary High School football player is finally back home after spending three weeks in the hospital after breaking his arm following a touchdown. What was thought to be a simple break – and a routine recovery – suddenly became a fight for his life.

"I believe the Lord didn’t bring me this far just to leave me here."

The backstory:

Thomas Killingsworth Jr. made a remarkable touchdown during the fourth game of the season. He's on the junior varsity football team at Lake Mary High School, whose season at the time remained undefeated. 

He's been playing football since he was four years old.

During the game, he hit the end zone, made the catch, and suddenly, his arm hurt. Turns out, he broke it in two spots.

"It was like we faked the short throw and then went deep—and it worked. I was in the end zone, caught the ball, and as I came down, the (defensive back) kind of went down with me," Thomas said.

And at that point, Thomas' mom knew has was hurt. 

"He immediately grabbed his arm and rocked a little bit, and I just knew he was hurt." She knows that happens in football, something Thomas has been playing for decades.

"I didn't think it was gonna be a hospital stay at all, honestly."

At the hospital, Thomas' family learned that he would need surgery to repair the broken arm. Surgery was performed, but when Thomas woke up, he began coughing up blood.

"On the X-ray, you could tell there was something in his lungs. They put a BiPAP on him to try to push the fluid out, but somehow it caused more fluid to build up," his mom said. 

She said Thomas' organs began to fail. So, the doctors and nurses intubated him and placed him in a medically-induced coma as they tried to stabilize his heart, liver, and kidneys.

"That whole process was really scary," his mom said.

The power of prayer

Unsure what to do or how to help, they relied on their faith and prayed. A week later, Thomas was pulled out of the medically-induced coma, though his numbers were still a bit off.

"He was like ‘I prayed for you son.’ You know, he believed that the Lord was going to protect me and I believe that that's what the Lord did," Thomas said, recalling the moment he woke up.

Thomas said his coaches and his friends visited him to show their support – and also prayed, relying on their faith in Thomas' health.

"One of my friends from Seminole caught the SunRail every day to come see me. My friends were catching Ubers. My quarterback came every day, my best friend—everybody just came up to see me," he said.

A youth pastor visited him – and that's when Thomas said he believes a miracle happened.

"He told me Jesus was gonna heal me. And two to three days later—I was going home. After he prayed, my numbers just started dropping by the thousands," he said.

Now, he's home recovering. Though, his next mission is to get back on the football field. 

"Definitely—that’s the goal: to heal up and go back to football."