Hopeful Family Plays Game Tapes For Injured Son

Those close to a 17-year-old fullback nearly killed in an auto accident hope the familiar grunts, whistles and cheers of football will stir him from his coma.

Brant Theurer is confined to a bed at Meridian Neuro Care hospital, but he never misses a game.

His coach at Paraclete High School, Steve Hagerty, wears a tape recorder during games to capture the sounds. The games also are videotaped, and the tapes are played later for Theurer, who can open his eyes.

“We turn on the VCR and say, ‘Brant, here’s what the team did last week,’” Mike Theurer said of his son. “Every once in a while, you see him tense up, move his head.”

While watching the team’s last regular-season game - a wrenching 28-27 loss to Rosamond High School - Brant “got all tense and agitated,” said friend and teammate Ryan Johnson. “I think he was mad.”

Theuer’s family has been playing tapes recorded at games and practices since the accident July 29. He he was flung from a friend’s car on the way home from a football camp.

The base of his brain was badly injured but no bones were broken and his spinal cord was undamaged, his mother, Mary, said Friday. So the prospects for him being able to use his body again are good if he regains full consciousness, she said.