NEW WILMINGTON (KDKA) — A sophomore on the Pitt football team has suffered an apparent stroke.

The parents of fullback Derrick Burns say it happened while he was on the phone.

The 20-year-old had been seen by a doctor after he complained of a severe headache and numbness in his side, but no one suspected a stroke.

“Found a mass, a blood clot in the back of his head, and a small one on the left side which caused a stroke and left his right side weak,” Dan Burns, Derrick’s adoptive father, said.

Burns is improving and is expected to recover.

The stroke is not believed to be related to a football injury, but his family is doubtful Burns will ever play again.

“’Coach, I think I’m done with football,’” Dan Burns said of Derrick. “We kind of had a little laugh over that – through the seriousness of it all we still had a little laugh over that.”

“Paul Chryst, the class act that he is, says, ‘Derrick, I don’t care about football right now. We just got to get you better,’” Burns continued.

RELATED LINKS
More Sports News
More Lawrence County News