Lindenhurst football players
are rallying behind one of their teammates who is recovering from a serious
illness.
Jared Barber became a living
legend at Lindenhurst High School. At just 4 feet 8 inches tall, he played
running back on the school’s football team.
“No one could stop him,” says
current Lindenhurst football player, Jake Trovato. “You could be the biggest
kid, he’ll still run you straight over.”
Barber has been fighting
diabetes his whole life and in May 2020, he had a sudden medical episode and
was hospitalized.
“He coded,” says Barber’s
mother, Katie Coleman. “Cardiac Arrest. They put him on a ventilator, and he
was in the hospital for about five months.”
Doctors are not sure exactly
what happened to Barber, but he is now bound to a wheelchair and unable to eat
on his own or speak.
His teammates didn’t forget
about him, and during the height of Saturday’s blizzard, dozens of teenagers
showed up to make sure the driveway was clear in case Barber had a medical
emergency.
Coleman says the team does
this every time it snows.
“I love these kids,” Coleman
says. “I love them to death.”
The team also helped lead
Barber on to the field in October during the high school’s senior
celebration.
“We all love him and we’re
always here for him no matter what,” says Lindenhurst football player James
DeGregorio.
There is a
GoFundMe page set up to help pay for Barber’s medical
equipment.