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MECKLENBURG COUNTY, Va. — There was no blood. There were no broken bones. But 15-year-old Lucas Crutchfield is now living with the aftermath of a devastating sports injury.
A bad hop during a Mecklenburg High School baseball practice resulted in a head injury for the teenager who has played baseball since he was four years old, his parents said.
"Lucas was running towards second [base] to get the ball and when it took that bad hop, it went straight and hit him in the left temple," mother Crystal Crutchfield said.
That was more than a month ago.
The injury continues to impact the ninth-grade student's day-to-day life.
"[He is] very different," Crystal said. "Sometimes it’s like the mindset of a two-year-old. We’re having to show him [how to do] things [again]."
Lucas does not remember getting hit in the head.
But that's not the only thing he does not remember, his parents said.
"Once I finally laid my eyes on Lucas (after the injury) and was able to talk to him, I started asking him a few questions and I could immediately tell something was wrong," Crystal said.
He has trouble remembering his age, the positions he plays in baseball, and even his brothers.
Doctor's visits, CT scans, and MRIs, have left the Crutchfield family with few answers about Lucas’s future.
They fear another blow to the head could prove fatal.
"At what point can he be a kid?" father Ryan Crutchfield said the family wanted to know.
The Crutchfield family also wanted to share a message with other parents.
“Kids that take licks like this to the head, they need to be evaluated," Ryan said.
Because of his brain injury, Lucas is unable to go to school or even be home-schooled.
And while the teen was adamant he did not want to play baseball anytime soon, he did have one wish.
“I just want to go to Savannah, Georgia, to see the Savannah Bananas," he said.
The family said doctors braced them for the reality that Lucas's memory may not return to its pre-injury state.
Friends and family set up a GoFundMe to help the Crutchfield family with unexpected medical costs.
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