Haylee Alexander, 15, suffered a traumatic brain injury while training for competitive cheer in Plano earlier this week.
PLANO, Texas – The Prosper community is now rallying for support for a 15-year-old high school student in intensive care after a sudden cheering accident earlier this week.
According to her family, Haylee Alexander was rushed to Medical City Plano after an accident at her competitive cheer gym Monday night.
Alexander’s family told WFAA the teenager suffered a traumatic brain injury.
Friday night, friends, family and the North Texas cheering community held a vigil outside Alexander’s hospital room.
Many were wearing Alexander’s favorite colors: pink and turquoise.
The family have adopted the hashtag #HayleeStrong and are encouraging anyone who supports their daughter’s recovery to use it.
In just a few days, more than $25,000 has been raised for the family through T-shirt sales with #HayleeStrong on the front.
The proceeds go to help the family pay for medical expenses.
If you would like to purchase one, you can go here.
Mallory Roberts came to the vigil with her daughter Reagan.
The Roberts live a few houses down from Haylee and her family.
Roberts is close friends with Alexander’s mother – while Reagan is close to Haylee herself.
“I take her to school every morning,” Reagan Roberts said. “We’re really close and she’s always there for you no matter what. It’s all really shocking and I can hardly believe it.”
The two described Alexander as a “cheerlebrity” – and said the teenager achieved the 2021 World Champion and Grand National Champion of Worlds with Cheer Athletics.
“This is every parent’s nightmare,” Mallory Roberts said. “To get a phone call that your child has been injured in a sport they’re so passionate about – it’s hard. It’s been really hard for us and I know for her family as well.”
“If you’re in a room and it’s dark — she walks in and it just lights up. She’s so full of life,” Roberts continued.
For much of the Prosper cheer community, Alexander’s injury feels like Deja Vu.
Last September, Makayla Noble was paralyzed in a rollover accident.
However, she has overcome so many obstacles and has regained function in her upper body.
Noble made sure to be on call Friday night.
Family friend Tatum Curry said it’s an emotional gathering outside Alexander’s hospital room. The teenager’s 16th birthday is also approaching.
But she added that it is the right thing to do as her family faces a tough road ahead.
“To be so close to her tonight — and to her parents is the right thing to do,” Curry said.
“We ask everyone – if you think about her, pray. When you go to bed? Pray. Say a prayer when you wake up. Say a prayer because prayers work.”
Is cheer the hardest sport?
Cheerleading. “Between football, wrestling, cage fighting and anything like that, cheerleading is by far the hardest sport I’ve ever played and the most painful,” Don told the Standard Examiner. Read also : Dardanelle High School sophomore named 2022 Mr. Cheerleader America Jr. teen.
Is cheer harder than football?
Studies by the National Center for Catastrophic Sports, along with the University of North Carolina and Emerson Hospital in Massachusetts, say the percentage of injuries related to football is in the 90th percentile, while catastrophic injuries attributed to cheerleading are over 65 percent. To see also : Clinton-Massie varsity, reserve football cheerleaders. Sports Science’s Dr.
Is cheerleading as dangerous as football? When it comes to risking your neck – and head – cheerleading practice is almost as bad as football. A new report published in the medical journal Pediatrics looked at athlete concussion rates in practice and competition in high school sports.
