SMYRNA, Ga. — Friends and loved ones are rallying to help a Cobb County high school student who was seriously injured during a friendly game of bubble soccer, in which players wear inflatable bubbles as they play.
Players from four local high school teams are playing soccer games to help raise money for 18-year-old Salvador “Chava” Reyes and his family.
Reyes was the captain of the Campbell High Schools boys’ soccer team and was likely good enough to turn pro, but suffered a severe head injury during an end-of-season celebration on May 13. He was just days away from graduating and planned to play on a professional team in Mexico.
Reyes’ sister, Ruby, says hope is all she and her family have to hold on to.
“We're taking it day by day. We're doing a little better now that he is more relaxed and stable and able to talk to us a little better. So he can tell us if he's hurting or if he needs anything -- versus, in the beginning -- he couldn't tell us anything,” she said.
Chava has been in Wellstar Kennestone Hospital since he collided with another player on the field that day.
He shattered his forehead and will now need reconstructive surgery.
Ruby Reyes says it is still a mystery to doctors how such severe injuries came from the collision, which was caught on camera.
"It's really hard to even imagine. Even when we told the doctors what we've been told, they said, 'Wow. Really? In a bubble? He was in a bubble?'" she said.
In the video, Chava’s head never pops out of the bubble.
“We played. I played. The JV girls play with the coaches and to this day we don't know how it happened. Because we were covered all the way over our heads,” his coach Pierina Anderson said.
Channel 2’s Berndt Petersen contacted the maker of the bubble suit and was told by a company spokesperson that they would release a statement, but they had not sent one as of Wednesday afternoon.
Meanwhile, medical bills are piling up for the family and the community has stepped up to help. They've organized a series of soccer games and other fundraisers for the family.
"It really, really does mean a lot. We are very thankful and blessed to have the whole community come together to help us,” Ruby Reyes said.