(WHAS11) -- An update on a young man who one year ago was on death's door after a near fatal blow on the football field left him in a coma.
These days Jesse Bratcher is a senior at Bullitt East High School, and still in the game, but as WHAS11 Rachel Platt reports he is just in a different role!
It’s Friday night in Bullitt County and two things are for sure; Football games and Jesse Bratcher on the sidelines.
But this year Jesse has traded in his helmet for a baseball cap and his uniform for blue jeans. And instead of playing he's giving players pep talks.
It was against this same team one year ago that Jesse suffered a near fatal blow that required emergency brain surgery.
A hit that meant no more football and a hit that nearly cost him his life.
Jesse is now a senior at Bullitt East and his life is slowly getting back to normal. He can't play football but he has been cleared to play other sports like basketball and he still has the touch!
It is nothing short of miraculous when you see pictures of him from a year ago; pictures and cards Jesse has looked at again this past week.
Because when you look at Jesse Bratcher these days there’s not much visible evidence of what happened.
Jesse is still taking medicine to stimulate his brain and now using a planner to help organize his thoughts.
Life is good, but different, an unlucky thing that happened to a guy who considers himself lucky.
He may not be able to play the game, but Jesse Bratcher will always be part of it.
Jesse says he is pleased more attention is being paid to head injuries and concussions; it’s something positive that came out of his close call.
He says he's constantly telling players if you have an injury bothering you get it checked out and don’t ignore it.
