Gospel song brings sign of hope for seriously injured Tennessee State player Christion Abercrombie
Last Thursday, Staci Abercrombie got a text from her son, Christion. He sent her the name of a gospel song. He thought his mom would like it. The song is called “Close,” by Marvin Sapp.
Two days later, before Christion’s game against Vanderbilt, Staci saw her son praying in the end zone, as he always does. She prayed too, as she always does.
Christion’s team, Tennessee State, played very well against an SEC opponent and nearly pulled off an incredible upset. Christion himself played very well against a larger, stronger team. Then, in the second quarter, Staci started getting some text messages.
“My phone was blowing up,” she recalled on Wednesday. “‘Is Christion OK?’ ‘Pray for Christion!’ But for some reason, we did not see anything.”
Only a short time later, Christion was being prepped for emergency surgery. He had collapsed on the sideline. He remains in critical condition with a severe head injury, in a specialized neurological ICU at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
And it’s still unclear how the injury took place.
“We didn’t see anything,” Staci said Wednesday. “We knew nothing. Once we got on the field, everyone surrounded us. We didn’t see anything that was traumatic. Nothing that out of the ordinary. We saw two [quarters] of a game. We saw Christion play hard like he’s always played hard. He’s played hard since the age of 5.”
Abercrombie, who is sometimes called “AB,” went to the sideline after what TSU coach Rod Reed called a “routine play” holding a block. He informed trainers he had a headache. He quickly needed oxygen. The sideline medical staff sprung into motion. The care he received was excellent by all counts, and it’s likely that if the game wasn’t so close to a top-notch hospital, Abercrombie may have been in far worse shape.
“I think that both the anesthesia team and the surgical team did a beautiful job and did exactly the right thing,” said Abercrombie’s doctor at Vanderbilt, Reid Thompson. “It’s what I would want for my son.”
That’s most important. Yet the question of exactly what caused such a serious problem is still unanswered.
“We don’t know when it exactly happened,” said his dad, Derrick. “He had no real bang or hit. It was something that no one could see on film. It’s just something that happened.”
The school’s assistant sports information director, Jose Garcia, wrote in an email that “There were no obvious contact plays seen on film.” And when asked if the incident happened on or off the field, Thompson said “I don’t think it’s appropriate to speak to that. There are a lot of unknowns here.” He repeated the word “rare” in referring to the injury.
Privacy and health safeguards are, understandably, a major concern here. So for now, an entire nation of football players, coaches and fans wait and hope for good news.
Staci spoke in a clear, full, optimistic voice at the press conference on Wednesday. She is getting some of her resilience from her son.
Christion was born premature, at 28 weeks, on July 4, 1998. He spent five weeks in the hospital. “He was on a ventilator.,” Staci said Thursday. “He fought and he fought. And we see him today. He’s still fighting.”
He starred in football and he also played basketball at Westlake in Atlanta. He went to Illinois, where he played 11 games in 2017 after a redshirt season and then transferred to TSU. In Nashville, he became one of the team’s most reliable players. Reed said the Tigers had “the worst defensive practice we had all year” in his absence not only because of the emotional toll, but because “AB” was so indispensable. He had five tackles and a quarterback hurry before leaving the game on Saturday.
He is louder on the field than off of it. His mom describes him as “quiet.” His coach says, “if Christion was in the room, you would not know it.”
Now he is at the center of prayers all over campus and beyond, with a GoFundMe set up through TSU. Teams and players from all over have reached out, including former Steelers linebacker Ryan Shazier, who had a serious spinal injury last season and has recovered to the point of walking without any assistance.
But the most uplifting has been done through family and faith. The gospel song that Christion sent to his mom last week has been played for him in his ICU unit. He has responded to that music with a slight raise of his hand – the best sign yet.
“While walking out the steps,” the song goes, “That You have planned for me … Living by faith … a bright future I see … I won’t be swayed by the obstacles that I face … For my victory is secure, if I stay in the race.”
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