Over $64,000 Raised to Help Family of Injured Brainerd Football Player

Conner Erickson (Photo Credit: Erickson Family)

A fundraiser to help the family of the Brainerd football player who suffered a serious head injury during a game last week has raised more than $64,000 as of late Tuesday night.

The original goal was to raise $21,000 in honor of Conner Erickson’s football number 21, but support for Conner and his family has easily exceeded expectations.

According to a post on Conner’s CaringBridge page, he suffered the injury during a game against Moorhead last Friday night. To remove pressure on his brain, Conner had a piece of his skull removed from the left side of his head in a three-hour surgery Friday night into Saturday morning.

He has been sedated since then, but updates from his CaringBridge page said Conner’s sedation was lowered Monday and it appeared he was able to hear his family. He also showed purposeful movement with his left arm and left leg. On Tuesday morning, they lowered the sedation medicine and received a good responsive neuro assessment.

Doctors told the family Conner is right where he should be, but he still has a very, very long way to go. The family continues to ask for prayers for Conner.