$370 Given to Bring Injured Boy’s Mother From Vietnam

Friends and teammates, aided by school administrators, raised $370 Monday in an effort to bring the mother of a La Quinta High School football player from Vietnam to the United States to see her critically injured son, possibly for the last time.

Kiet Le, a 16-year-old sophomore at La Quinta, was rushed to UCI Medical Center in Orange Friday after he collapsed during a junior varsity football game. Kiet underwent brain surgery Friday night to remove a blood clot, and he has not regained consciousness. He was on life support systems Monday in the intensive care unit.

Kiet has not seen his mother in 11 years, according to La Quinta principal Andrew McTaggart. Kiet has been living with his father and sister in Westminster. It was not known Monday why his mother could not emigrate to the United States with the rest of the family.

“We made posters and boxes and put them around the quad area at school,” said senior Wes Kollar, a close friend and teammate of Kiet. “We wanted to do something for the family. People donated their lunch money and everything.”

The $370 that students raised Monday will go to the family to help pay for an airline ticket and other expenses for the mother, whose name was not immediately known, Kollar said. “We’re probably going to double that tomorrow,” he said of the amount raised.

McTaggart, who was at the game Friday, said that Kiet took the field with the punt return unit, but, before play began, he staggered across the line of scrimmage and collapsed.

School officials have contacted U.S. government officials in an attempt to expedite the process by which Kiet’s mother would enter the country. According to McTaggart, she is already on a waiting list and had been scheduled to emigrate in November.

“They are trying to intervene through various channels to get her here now,” McTaggart said. “It’s still in channels, and we’re waiting to see if we can clear everything up.”

Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove), who was asked to assist, has made contact with the various agencies involved, McTaggart said.

Attempts also have been made to contact the Vietnamese mission to the United Nations as well as the U.S. embassy in Bangkok, Thailand, McTaggart added.

“Congressman Dornan has been working extensively to communicate through channels,” McTaggart said, adding that Dornan said he has alerted the White House in an effort to expedite the mother’s arrival here.

Kollar said that Kiet is friendly to everyone and is always willing to lend a hand, both on the field and off.

“Last summer during football practice, the coach said he needed someone to play backup quarterback and Le volunteered,” Kollar said, adding that Kiet did not really have the throwing skills needed to play the position.

“He didn’t have a clue what he was doing” as quarterback, Kollar said. “After a couple of days, the coach finally got another guy who was better at it. Kiet was sure happy about that; he’d had enough.”

McTaggart met with team members Monday morning to tell them about Kiet’s condition and about the efforts to bring his mother to the United States.

His friends on the team stayed together after the meeting. “About 10 of us, his closest friends, stayed through second period,” Kollar said. “We said a little prayer and talked about the good stuff Le has done.”