‘Dealing with the End’: 17-Year-Old Football Player on Life Support After Suffering ‘Cardiac Event’

A teenage football player from Long Island, New York, is clinging to life after he collapsed on the field due to a “cardiac event.”

Robert Bush, 17, had barely walked onto the field Monday afternoon when he doubled over and collapsed, according to his brother, Steve Bush. Coaches immediately worked on the teenager, providing CPR and emergency defibrillation. However, despite those efforts and the efforts of those at a nearby hospital, Bush did not regain consciousness. Nor, did he receive any blood flow to his brain for at least 45 minutes, according to reports.

While the exact cause of the collapse is unknown, Bush’s family believes he may have suffered from a hereditary condition that leads to a thickening of the wall of the left ventricle, Newsday reports. The condition eventually prevents the heart from pumping blood effectively.

“There’s no more brain function,” Robert’s brother, Steve, said Thursday. “We are dealing with the end right now.”

Bush’s family told Newsday he joined the football team to improve his physical condition. Being of shorter stature, Robert’s older brother said that he jokingly called him “Rudy,” after the diminutive Notre Dame walk-on legend portrayed in the hit 1993 film named after him.

“He’s a shorter kid, so we always told him, ‘You’re like the Rudy,” Steve shared.

 

Bush was one of eleven children adopted by Robert and Patricia Bush. Robert Bush, who is a single parent after his wife passed away from cancer in 2017, told Newsday how much he is grieving for his late son.

“He was just like all his older siblings,” Robert said.

“He wanted to get married. He wanted to have kids like all of us. So, as you can tell, knowing where he was in his life and how far he’s taken it just in the last two years, it’s killing us.”