Nearly two weeks ago, Ethan Glynn was unable to feel anything below his shoulders.
Glynn, a member of the football team at Bloomington Jefferson High School near Minneapolis, was paralyzed after suffering a severe neck and spinal cord injury in a tackle that he made in the first quarter of the team’s season opening game.
However, on Tuesday, Glynn’s family shared in an update on CaringBridge that the 15-year-old reached a key moment in his recovery process. The update stated that Glynn was removed from his ventilator and the first words that came from his mouth were “Roll Tide.”
According to the family, Glynn watched the Alabama-Texas game in his hospital bed on Saturday, as the Crimson Tide snuck out of Austin with a 20–19 victory. As Glynn continues to navigate the recovery process, Jaguars coach Tim Carlson previously told KMSP-TV in Minneapolis that if it is one player who can overcome this obstacle, it is Glynn.
“There’s no playbook for this,” Carlson said. “He’s strong-willed. He’s determined,” Carlson said.
In addition to football, Glynn is also a standout hockey and baseball player at the school, according to KMSP-TV.
