Indiana Wide Receiver Isaac Griffith Breathing On His Own, Will Still Remain Hospitalized
ByIsaac Griffith, a wide receiver for Indiana University, has been taken out of his medically induced coma and is doing well, according to his father Shannon.
The head football coach at the University of Manchester, Shannon Griffith has used his Twitter account to update his followers on his son's medical condition. Wednesday night, he released another statement on his son.
"Today was a very good day for Isaac! Early this afternoon the doctors gave the orders to remove him from the ventilator and bring him out of his medically induced coma he woke up well is breathing on his own and resting at this present moment," Shannon wrote. "We are still in a Marathon for his recovery and this two is just a little battle he is doing well we still have those little battles in front of us. He has responded to his name immediately, moved his hands, squeezed Kim's hand, moved his feet. He has some issues they are treating with antibiotics for his lungs but that is something we expected."
Griffith and his teammates were in Sarasota, Fla. at Siesta Key Beach when the accident occurred, the Indianapolis Star reported. The report from the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office said Griffith was there with teammates Ty Smith and Nick Stoner, along with Mitch McCune, a student studying to be an athletic trainer.
McCune and Griffith were pulled out about 15 yards beyond the swim buoy by an unexpected rip current. McCune managed to get Griffith ashore and instinctually performed CPR until the emergency responders arrived.
"Me and Isaac got pulled farther out than everyone else, so we were having trouble," McCune told the Associated Press. "He was drowning and I grabbed him and got him to shore. It was tough."
The Sheriff's report said the four young men had been drinking alcohol in their hotel room before deciding to go swimming. McCune denied this detail, stating, "I don't know how that started."
According to one of Shannon Griffith's tweets, his son will be evaluated at some point Thursday morning. He said he will continue providing updates as they come.