Caddo Mills High School Athlete Receives Community Support After Concussion

Victoria Mendez, a sophomore at Caddo Mills High School, suffered a concussion during her team’s football game on Feb. 15. The Lady Fox were at Mabank when Mendes collided with another player, she fell to the turf and hit her head.

“She actually jumped up, you know, as if nothing had happened, and then took a few steps. And after that, she kind of stopped,” said coach Mike Campbell.

Strength coaches have helped Mendes fade into the background.

“As soon as they took her off the field, she started having problems, she passed out,” Campbell said. “Probably had four or five minutes left in the game when it happened.”

Mendez was taken to a local hospital and then airlifted to Children’s Medical Center in Dallas. Doctors determined that he had suffered a concussion, which caused serious impairment.

Mendes was diagnosed with a functional neurological disorder. Known as FND, this is a post-concussion syndrome that can lead to unexpected symptoms.

“They tell her that this will be with her forever, that she just needs to learn more or less to teach her brain to do things again, like walk,” Karen said.

Victoria was released from the hospital last week and will need daily outpatient therapy to learn to walk.

“He constantly asks when he will return to normal life. I tell her: “Mami, you are normal. Are you okay. We just need a little time for you to recover quickly, ”said Karen.

Doctors tell the Mendez family that Victoria’s first steps could take weeks or even months.

“She was just beating herself up about not being able to walk, not keeping her balance, not being able to, you know, do her normal chores on her own,” Karen said.

Mendez admits that his daughter has mental health issues.

“She hates being alone,” Mendez said. “All of her classmates were such a blessing. They sent her messages. They gave her notes and letters. She was always the drug dealer on the team and told everyone, “Let’s go.” We have it. We have it.’ And the fact that he did it was great.

Karen and her husband said they have a long way to go, but they are motivated by emotional and financial support from Coach Campbell and football teams across the state.

“We set ourselves a small goal and it was achieved in less than 12 hours. So right now we have about $14,000 on GoFundMe, but I know you won’t get far when all these bills start rolling in,” Campbell said.

To support the Mendez family, the Caddo Mills baseball team will host a charity game Tuesday night. All proceeds will go to the family.

The game kicks off at 7:15 pm at 2700 Gilmer Street, Caddo Mills, TX, right behind Ed Locker Stadium.

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