Buena High Football Player Suffers Stroke

Buena High football player Jeff Larson is partially paralyzed after suffering a stroke over the weekend, eight days after he sustained what was believed to be a minor neck injury during a game.

Larson, 17, collapsed Saturday night while working at Golf N’ Stuff in Ventura and was taken to Ventura County Medical Center. He was transported to UCLA Medical Center on Sunday and remains in the intensive care unit.

Doctors believe a blood clot that formed in the carotid artery in Larson’s neck cut off blood flow to the middle cerebral artery in his brain, causing the stroke. Blood-clot thinning medication was administered at Ventura County Medical Center on Saturday night, and Larson had a CAT scan Sunday at UCLA.

“He’s having a really hard time,” said Vicky Larson, Jeff’s mother. “He’s in intensive care and there is paralysis on his left side.

“He was talking to us today. We’re just hoping everything goes well. He’s a fighter.”

Larson, a senior who plays defensive end, competed in Buena’s game Friday night against Hueneme High without apparent problems, even sacking the quarterback once, according to Buena Coach Rick Scott.

However, after a game Sept. 26 against Newbury Park, Larson complained to his parents of headaches, blurred vision and a sore neck.

Doctors now believe Larson slightly tore the carotid artery during the earlier game and that a blood clot formed at the point of the tear in the ensuing days, Vicky Larson said.

Scott said school coaches were unaware of Larson’s injuries.

“He went through the whole week of practice and never said a thing,” Scott said. “Then he played well on Friday night.”

Larson left school early Thursday, telling his mother he didn’t feel well. He was seen by a nurse at the Buenaventura Medical Clinic later that day and again on Friday, and was cleared to play in Friday’s game, Vicky Larson said.

“If they had taken a CAT scan or an MRI, it would have shown up,” she said. “There was no blood flowing to his brain [from the artery]. The clot had completely shut it off.”